According to the latest update of Tokyo Dark - Kickstarter campaign GOG refuses to release the game on its platform since it reminds visual novels, because it was made in Asia and looks Asian.

WOW

Not only GOG released some weird stuff such as Hatoful Boyfriend, which cries "I'm a weird visual novel about dating with birds!"... but refuses to have anything to do with a dark horror adventure game, which are rarely made nowadays? What is wrong in Poland over at GOG HQ?


So you like adventure games, but don't like those that look asian? And you will publish visual noves about mating with birds but not the ones that are horror detective adventures? GOG, you make no sense!

While I agree GOG needs to improve (REALLY REALLY REALLY IMPROVE) how it accepts and rejects games, I steadfastly refuse to believe they rejected something because it was "made in Asia and looks Asian".

I'd check the reliability of your sources on this one because I call bullshit.

This is what says the aforementioned Kickstarter update I was refering to:

For those of you who opted for a non-Steam version unfortunately we heard some disappointing news that the platform we had hoped to release on feels that Tokyo Dark has too much in common with Japanese visual novels (well it is a visual novel / adventure game hybrid) and as such does not suit their current store policy of no VNs.

Your linked post actually cites a policy of "No VNs", which could have been implemented after Hatoful Boyfriend was released. So they do actually make sense, even if people disagree with said reasons.

That quote doesn't say "made is Asia and looks Asian".

It says it has too much in common with Japanese visual novels. In that case it makes sense GOG doesn't carry it, because GOG doesn't sell visual novels (Japanese or any other) and the statement says "well it is a visual novel". Now if they should sell those or not is another debate for another time, but as it stands right now, they don't, so of course they won't carry it.

ninjad by the hansom man in the beret.

No, the trend of refusing this kind of games was here before the Hatoful Boyfriend and people were talking about it quite a bit. That's why bunch of people were surprised they would release a visual novel. Especially one about dating birds.

The way I understand current GOG mentality:

We don't like visual novels, hence no such games on GOG!

But Bob, look at that Hatoful Boyfriend, it sells well on Steam!

Oh, if it sells so good, to hell with our policy of no visual novels, yay!


In other words, screw any kind of policies or quality checking... as long as it makes money, we don't care about our community and their opinions...

oh shit

he's freaking out :P

Hatoful Boyfriend was a Day 1 release here, so how well it would sell on Steam was unknown at that time. And do we actually have a refusal to carry a game because it was a VN before September of 2014, or could it be that they refused said VNs for other reasons?
Assuming no one else finds a post, I will probably go looking for one tomorrow.

Edit: There was of course the Japanese version of Hatoful Boyfriend from 2011, but that was never translated from what I recall. On the other hand, it was a received as a good game.

Edit 2: The Hatoful Boyfriend release thread seems to have been mostly about regional pricing complaint, and the odd "When will we get more VN" comments, so it also doesn't seem to support the idea that VNs were being denied for being VNs.

Ok, I get you being upset about the rest of this stuff, sure, but where in the world are you getting "GOG hates Asian-made/Asian-looking" games from?
And then the title is misleading as well...
Not to be rude here, but the way you're phrasing this whole thing, you're coming across as yet another one of those "GOG carried X game instead of the game I want, so X game is stupid and GOG is idiotic" people, except you're throwing "racist" in there as well for no real reason.

This:
"screw any kind of policies or quality checking... as long as it makes money"

Could be the new catchphrase!

Just checked the FAQS actually whilst posting this, and noticed a few updates have not been made there:
----
GOG.com is a digital distribution platform serving fantastic {correct to average at best}
computer games and movies {movies have been dead for years}
at kick-ass prices {check Ys release, kick ass on your wallet, and yes, most are more pricier than getting from steam on sale}
. And no, it's not “just a store” {yes, it is}
- it's the site that's all about the greatest games ever and the people who play them. We've got critically acclaimed games, with tons of all-time classics for just $5.99 and $9.99, along with modern games from AAA to Indie, bundled with heaps of free downloadable content {This is incorrect now, very little free content, almost everything is paid DLC}
and exclusive add-ons, no DRM or intrusive copy protection {excluding Gwent, Absolver, Goblins Inc, Armello... add others I forgot}
and full compatibility with Windows XP & Vista. {other than those that don't, the client which doesn't}
Most {some in the case of Linux}
of our games are compatible with Windows 7 as well, and many work natively on Mac OS X 10.6+ and Linux - it's all right there on every product page.

While games form the bulk and core of our offering, we've also recently {long time ago, and died a death}
introduced movies on top of that. Make sure to check that out, too!
-----

Just an interesting observation as hadn't looked at these for a long time.

BREAKING NEWS: GOG HAS DOUBLE STANDARDS
News at 11

Here's an example: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/winter_wolves_games_on_gog/post38

I can see that the games were rejected for not quite fitting in with GOG's views, but not a policy rejection of VNs. Further talk in the comments say that price might have been an issue, though that wasn't by the developer.
Still, thank you for doing a bit of digging.

Now that you mention it, that does describe the "New GOG" fairly well.

As for OP's complaint, I don't know if this particular game is any good, but I do think it's strange if they flat out refuse to sell certain genres of games.

It's worth pointing out that Humble Store does actually sell various DRM-free visual novel games. And as it happens, they're currently offering discounts on several ( erotic? ) visual novels, for those into that sort of thing. ( Edit: Those currently on discount seem to be Steam only, but I've definitely seen other, DRM-free visual novels on the store in the past. )

https://www.humblebundle.com/store/search?sort=newest

Uhh, no. Don't put those words in bold to my mouth.

All I'm saying/implying is that GOG sees this point and click adventure game as a visual novel because of the looks, not the content. I couldn't care less about what's their problem with the genre, all I see is their refusal of a good game, that shouldn't have any problems regarding to their distribution platform.