Gog - Good Old Games - Dead! :(

[skeezix]

We really should have a 'All platforms - news' board perhaps? This isn't "off topic/console" really (imho), since this was the place to get your Descent 'roms' etc, your DosBox "roms". Master of Magic etc..

It would seem our dearest friend GoG is no-more! I wish they'd have given us a bit of notice, I'm sure they could have had a big sales spike if they'd notified slashdot/etc that they had only days left before closing up, or something; perhaps something sudden came upon them. (who knows, maybea server exploded or something and they looked at the expense and just said hell with it... hope the story comes out!)

Anyway, hope everyone bought what they wanted!

And I hope that GoG comes back (or something similar) .. I really thought GoG had a classy operation.

The official message (go visit the site):

Dear GOG users,

We have recently had to give serious thought to whether we could really keep GOG.com the way it is. We've debated on it for quite some time and, unfortunately, we've decided that GOG.com simply cannot remain in its current form.

We're very grateful for all support we've received from all of you in the past two years. Working on GOG.com was a great adventure for all of us and an unforgettable journey to the past, through the long and wonderful history of PC gaming.

This doesn't mean the idea behind GOG.com is gone forever. We're closing down the service and putting this era behind us as new challenges await.

On a technical note, this week we'll put in place a solution to allow everyone to re-download their games. Stay tuned to this page and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for updates.

All the best,
GOG.com Team

RIP guys,

--

Apparently there is some mystery here and many (including Joystiq) think this is some 'stunt' as they convert to a different 'flavour' of site (whatever that might be.) If so, then my sentiment stands -- RIP GoG, as I likedhow they were. (ie: And Steam even sometimes, like when you buy Quake1 on steam and you can still get the original data files out of it with just a copy.) If GoG (and Steam and anyone) allows that, they are win. If GoG somehow loses that option, they are dead to me (But being basicly a reseller of DosBox, shoudl be interesting...)

 

[gruso]

Yeah

Speculation on gaf is that they've been bought out / stomped out by someone big and ugly. Or, maybe it just couldn't sustain itself.

 

[TimmyB]

Bought out? Steam maybe?

The note above doesn't imply a sell-out or take over.

 

[Loonie]

I just arrived to relay that very same very crappy news myself. Mega pisser.

 

[Sugar_Kane]

They have worded it interestingly, they were careful not to say that they were closing and never coming back. Sounds like a buyout to me, maybe they sold it for a packet and we're going to see a sluttier, whorish corporate gog from the likes of activision

 

[gruso]

Posted by Lafazar on neogaf:

There is the possibility that this is a marketing stunt to announce their move from Beta:

Polish site with a statement by Michael Kicinski:
http://polygamia.pl/Polygamia/1,107162,8397342,GOG_sie_zamyka__Raczej_nie.html

Gogle Translation:

Note, the date of the conference is probably 22gi early Wednesday evening. Information about this soon on GOG.com (please do not panic after reading the information contained there. Please remember that this conference on-line, first organized in such a way

Virtually closed the calendar of conferences and we will send an official info about this in the Mon-Tues

http://translate.google.com/transla...97342,GOG_sie_zamyka__Raczej_nie.html&act=url

Neoseeker with a statement by Tom Ohle:

As the message on the site says, this doesn't mean GOG is gone. We'll have more to share in the coming days. No need to jump to conclusions

http://www.neoseeker.com/news/14926-digital-pc-classics-service-good-old-games-closes/

I dunno how I feel about this, it's certainly a good way to get talked about, but I nearly got a heart attack when I saw the GOG main page.

Gee, I really hope this is a marketing stunt, but if it is, it's very cruel!

If it's a stunt, it's been a poorly handled one. Either way it looks like we'll be hearing more about it in the next few days.

 

[Dead1nside]

Yes, very sad if it really is true, and a very abrupt end.

I do hold some hope that perhaps it's because they are leaving beta and want a relaunch, so site down time was going to happen anyway. However, it's a bit of a nasty shock to loyal customers if that really is the case.

Edit: Just to add to the speculation. Why bother changing the site's favicon if you're going out of business <_< ?

 

[fettouhi]

Very sad indeed .

 

[Sugar_Kane]

The part that says 'in it's current form' is the fishy bit, and smacks of a buyout. I wouldn't be surprised if they're going to merge with steam

 

[Pickle]

Stinkage....seems to me in their next incarnation drm will be back.

 

[dadioflex]

Glad I picked up Master of Magic and Age of Wonders there last week. Would have bought far more if I knew they were going to pull this.

It'd guess Impulse would be a more likely buyout partner, as they appear to have closer philosophies, than they do to Valve. But who knows. I figure they just got fed up running at a loss.

 

[Jourdy288]

Yipes. Perhaps they'll be sucked into Steam?

[quote name ='http://www.gamestar.de/news/vermischtes/2317952/spiele_shop_good_old_games.html']»Wir haben vor kurzem uns ernste Gedanken darüber gemacht, ob wir GOG.com so, wie es ist, aufrechterhalten können. Wir haben lange Zeit darüber geredet und leider mussten wir uns dazu entscheiden, dass GOG.com in dieser Form nicht bleiben kann. .. Wir schließen den Dienst.«
Mit diesen Worten hat der Spiele-Downloaddienst Gog.com am Wochenende seine Fans überrascht und für eine weltweite Berichterstattung in den Internet-Medien gesorgt. Soll Gog.com endgültig geschlossen werden? Über Twitter hatte der Betreiber des Dienstes CD Projekt, auch bekannt als Programmierer des Rollenspiels The Witcher, kurz vorher Gerüchte geschürt, dass es für ihn nicht einfach sei, weiter DRM-freie Spiele zum Download anzubieten. Wir können mittlerweile Entwarnung geben: Wie uns Lukasz Kukawski von CD Projekt mitteilte, wird Gog.com nicht geschlossen. Vielmehr handelt es sich bei der Mitteilung auf der Homepage des Download-Dienstes um einen PR-Scherz. Gog.com feiert demnächst sein zweijähriges Bestehen. Zum Geburtstag möchte CD Projekt mit einer neuen Website und tollen Angeboten überraschen. Um die vorzubereiten, müsse Gog.com für ein paar Tage abgeschaltet werden.

Good Old Games GOG.com ist ein Download-Shop für alte Spiele wie Giants: Citizen Kabuto, Operation Flashpoint, TOCA Race Driver, Sacrifice, Fallout 2, Freespace 2, MDK, Colin McRae Rally 2005 und auch Fallout. Im Gegensatz zu Downloadplattformen mit aktuellen Titeln verzichtet GOG.com komplett auf den Kopierschutz.[/quote]

 

[Loonie]

If GOG is planning a DRM-laden return, they better give us the chance to retrieve our former purchases without DRM. Also, if I'd wanted a DRM-laden service, I would have bought stuff from STEAM.

 

[Prometheus]

I have to admit that, if the speculation that they couldn't sustain things as they were was true, I'm not entirely surprised.

Myself, the only games I went there for were those which I could use on systems I own (specifically, I bought Freespace 2 and The Incredible Machine there, off the top of my head). I must admit that I have rarely visited since back then because they seemed to be adding a lot of stuff that I would consider to be relatively recent, and also which could only be used on Microsoft Windows, which just didn't catch my interest at all. Perhaps I'm the only one, though.

 

[Jourdy288]

There's been an update:

UPDATE 20.09.2010
First of all, we apologize everyone for the whole situation and closing GOG.com. We do understand the timing for taking down the site caused confusion and many users didn't manage to download all their games. Unfortunately we had to close the service due to business and technical reasons.

At the same time we guarantee that every user who bought any game on GOG.com will be able to download all their games with bonus materials, DRM-free and as many times as they need starting this Thursday.

The official statement from GOG.com's management concerning the ongoing events is planned on Wednesday. If you want to receive further information about GOG.com, please send an email to update_media@gog.com if you're a media representative or to update_users@gog.com if you're a user without a GOG account.

 

[Sugar_Kane]

Maybe they stood on activision's toes and got a stern letter from their lawyers

 

[Dimacus]

Sad news indeed, I discovered the site about a week ago and have made up a small list of games i was thinking of buying when i got this months pay. :/

 

[kavlor]

I joined a couple of months back and bought a few games.They had a forum as well so you could get help with any game you bought instead of having to scour the internet for each game.

 

[Dead1nside]

I've got my eyes and ears open for this press conference, that video link they've just posted on their website has a screenshot of Baldur's Gate in it.

 

[dadioflex]

I've got my eyes and ears open for this press conference, that video link they've just posted on their website has a screenshot of Baldur's Gate in it.

Honest, if this is PR shenanigans I won't be happy.

Getting the BG games on download would be cool, though I have all my BG/Icewind Dale and Planescape Torment disks safe - and Lionheart - heavy sigh - but fake closing and making people think they've lost access to their downloads... who would trust them again?