This is exactly what's needed, but I don't expect the current management doing anything except doubling down on the current losing strategy.

GoG became useless to me as I have no way of filtering new good old games releases. The filter just doesn’t exist anymore. I get they want to cater to a niche like The no drm crowd but it shouldn’t be their ONLY niche.

And they can still do further upgrades to their existing catalogue and find ways to monetize. There are whales in any niche.

These reports make clear that GOG is still bleeding money, which it cannot afford to do.

Abolishing curation entirely would be one of the most fastest & effective ways for to GOG to reduce the amount of money that it is bleeding.

But instead of doing that, GOG is committing to continue wasting dollars that they can't afford to waste, because they are under the very mistaken impression that GOG customers come to the GOG store because they are eager for the "hand-picked selection of curated games" feature.

In reality, they are not. No one cares about that, and it harms GOG, not helps them.

But GOG is still presenting "a curated selection of games" as a feature that is equally as important as DRM-free, which is still ludicrous, just like it always has been.

The reason people like myself aren't focusing on the "DRM-free" part of the statement is because:

a) yes that would be a good thing if GOG actually meant it, and therefore it's not something worthy of criticizing.

b) the current indications remain that GOG doesn't actually mean it.

For example, if GOG were truly committing to DRM-free, then they would make an announcement that says something along the lines of:

Since our deal to sell EGS-DRM'ed games through GOG Galaxy is incompatible with our DRM-free philosophy, we have cancelled our partnership with EGS, and we will not be pursuing similar deals with other companies in the future.

Yet in reality, there is no such statement forthcoming. Hence, the alleged commitment to DRM-free remains hollow, empty words.

Quote source1:
"The storefront saw a slight increase in revenue but a net loss of around $1.14 million in the last financial quarter. Overall, it’s lost about $2.21 million over the past three quarters compared to a $1.37 million profit over the same period in 2020. CD Projekt didn’t immediately reply to questions about how its new strategy might translate into changes to GOG’s features or catalog"
...
Quote source2:
"Another contributing factor to the less flattering bottom line was the performance of the company's digital storefront, GOG.com. Despite the addition during the quarter of older Star Trek games, Myst, and new titles like Psychonauts 2, GOG only saw revenues inch upward 3% to PLN 41.8 million ($10.1 million)."

Sep 22. 2021: Release of Hitman GOTY
Oct 08.2021: Removal of Hitman GOTY

I wonder if the Whole Hitman Mess(TM) was accounted to the 3rd Qtr...
or the 4th Qtr report is gonna be a much more hurting one...

s1: theverge.com/2021/11/29/22808199/cd-projekt-gog-losses-restructuring-earnings-2021
s2: gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-29-cd-projekt-sales-up-but-gog-struggles

I strongly disagree about abolishing the curation. Curation is one of the few remaining unique selling points GOG has left and I (for one) value the fact that they don't allow any and all low-quality shovelware onto the store in the way that Steam does. The only reason GOG exists is because it is not Steam. Any further moves to further water down the differentiation from Steam would imo be a huge mistake.

What I would agree with is that GOG's curation policy needs fixing. It is opaque and confusing - 'good' is very subjective. They should review the curation policy and consider making specific, objective criteria that are clearly communicated.

For example, by virtue of GOG curation policy, P.A.M.E.L.A. should imo be removed, since it seems to be a completely broken game that has been abandoned by its developers. The fact it continues to be sold on the store as a complete, functional game is a bit dishonest.

Here's some examples for any GOG management that actually want to save the store. Mind the publisher search links that list some games already on GOG:

https://www.zoom-platform.com/search/1c-entertainment/any/any/any/any/any/any/any

https://www.zoom-platform.com/search/microids/any/any/any/any/any/any/any

https://www.zoom-platform.com/product/hardwar

Quite a bit from 1C and Microids alone that isn't on GOG. I can't imagine those being difficult to get released here compared to the bigger AAA publishers.

I think it kind of made sense before EGS came on the scene (or around that time), some people were looking at GOG as actual potential competition for Steam and maybe GOG thought they could develop themselves into that. And the Galaxys (first and 2) had hype behind them for things like Crossplay and "all my games in one place", but not surprisingly the hype didn't live up to expectations.

I think EGS has the actual resources to be true competition to Steam, whether they accomplish that or not I can't say. But I agree GOG should focus on DRM-free and resolidify themselves in that niche.

I would prefer not returning to "curation" from a few years ago though, unless it somehow means fewer instances of "2nd class citizenship", at least for core/important patches. (Personally I'm fine with cut multiplayer, achievements, leaderboards, etc. especially for older games like Serious Sam 2 and 3.)

"all my games in one place" always was and is doomed to fail. It will never work without Steam's cooperation, and they are not going to cooperate with something that is designed to erode their market share. i have never seen any persuasive argument from GOG as to how that fatal flaw could be addressed.

Here's a thread from people outside the looking glass.

There's a few conclusions to draw:
1) GOG is at it best when dealing with old games.
2) Galaxy opinion ranges from okay, to lackluster, to perhaps a mistake.
3) A lot of people are still sore over the stupid shit that their media people said years ago. (Was a formal apology ever issued?)

And a few personal thoughts:
4) GOG has done practically bugger all for the communal health. Most of us are crotchety and jaded; we don't feel the breath of any engagement or fresh blood. Remember when GOG would engage with people like LGR, Pixelmusement or Ross Scott?
5) Legal Gray areas be damned, maybe it's about time to start taking games by force and see if anyone rears their head. Or alternately, work with the communities keeping already dead games alive and offer to give them a home. Like RVGL. WeGo is dead as far as I can tell.
6) Modding. Modding keeps games alive. A partnership with any number of modding platforms would be a massive boon.
7) GOG isn't a boutique. Don't act like this is some high class store. Grassroots is how this got started, grassroots is how we're gonna survive.

A lot of people? Resetera may still be sore, but I don't think it has entered most anybody elses' mind for a while now.

edit: looking through that thread, I do see some viewpoints/feedback I think GOG should look into

Galaxy is obviously a big mistake.

Unsurprising. Resetera loves to get angry about all kinds of inconsequential crap. I wouldn't worry about that one.

Honestly so long as GOG is like ensuring they are drm-free games I can go with a ''open the floodgates'' so long as they are proven drm-free games ..

Another discussion, on Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/r4zxa0/cd_projekt_information_details_from_latest/

Adapt or die.