Tanis said:
It's not really GOG's fault, is it?
I mean, they've bitched about having to do this before.
Their hands being tied thanks to the assholes who actually own the IPs.
Actually it sort of is. GOG is becoming big, and selling out. The original point of GOG was for them to go through the trouble of modifying/emulating old titles so they would run on newer systems and could then be re-released. They were filling a niche which was one occupied by Abandonware sites, but was coming under increased fire, as well as hitting the barrier than when you got beyond a certain point the games were just too big to allow an Abandonware site to put them up for free. GOG getting permission and going "legit" allowed them to charge a small amount of money for their work and justify the cost of hosting those games.
As time has gone on GOG's prices have gone up, your seeing far more $10 titles than $6 titles it seems, especially when looking at popular games that they apparently think can sell that high. They have also broadened to becoming an indie and small company distribution service, and have been increasingly interested in simply becoming a general digital platform, which is why things like regional pricing are becoming more of an issue, they are pretty much being forced to act like all the other services they were once compared to, due to by and large becoming those services.
Now yes, I do get the whole thing about GOG being out there to make money, and simply expanding their business in the most profitable directions. However when you consider the name is "Good Old Games" and what they were originally supposed to be doing, and what made them so popular, it becomes increasingly easy to criticize them. GoG could have stayed small, and relatively humble, and continued to serve the niche market it cut out for itself. The guys running it seem to have gotten the bug though, and I'd imagine things are going to just get worse. I'm still waiting for the point where they are going to start selling games with DRM, starting as an "exception" and they spreading to more and more titles, perhaps even at some point requiring their own launcher for products purchased after a certain date. We aren't there yet of course, but it seems to be a classic story of selling out, like we've seen in gaming, movies, music, and everything else out there. The once noble indie artist/provider becomes successful by not being like the big guys, but gets a taste of that success and then morphs into the same people they became popular by opposing, eventually looking down at their fans from atop their piles of money and the mainstream consumer base once they have it and telling the people that made then "we don't owe you anything, stop acting entitled".