PC gamers have spoken and the team at GOG has listened as regional pricing plans for the DRM free service have now been shelved.
In a lengthy address to the GOG community the powers that be have decided that the concept of different pricing depending on which region you live in is not such a great idea. Around ten thousand PC gamers voiced their opinion on the matter since it was revealed as a possibility earlier this year.
“The last two week’s worth of comments in our forums (nearly 10k!), show that’s not the case. We didn’t listen and we let you down. We shouldn’t sacrifice one of our core values in an attempt to advance another. We feel bad about that, and we’re sorry. Us being sorry is not of much use to you, so let’s talk about how we will fix it.”
This is great news for PC gamers who love their games being DRM free, especiallly if you’re on the hunt for a bargain. GOG outlined a four point plan for their service moving forward, the first point being to stick to their core value of providing DRM free games.
GOG say they will “fight” to continue offering games at a flat price, and if that can’t be done, they’ll go as far as making up the different out of their “own pockets”. Now that’s commitment.
Games will still be offered in regional currencies and they explain how this will work.
“Three: We still intend to introduce the pricing in local currencies. Let us explain why we want to do it and how we want to make it fair for everyone. From the very beginning our intention was to make things easier for users whose credit cards/payment systems are not natively in USD. The advantages are simple because the price is more understandable and easier to relate to. There would be no exchange rates involved, no transaction fees, and no other hidden charges. However after reading your comments, we realized we have taken an important element away: the choice. In order to fix this, we’ll offer the option of paying in the local currency or the equivalent in USD. This way, how you pay is always your choice. ”
With currency values constantly changing it sounds like there’s the opportunity to play the system and save a few pennies. It’s a bold move by GOG, but as any GOG customer will know, they like to do things a little differently.
