It seems like it takes at least 10 years for a AAA Game from the likes of EA, Ubisoft and Bethesda to get on GOG. But I think it has less to do with the age and more to do with the relevancy and how worried the publisher is about piracy of something that old and aren't getting many new sales anyway, so you might as well offer DRM-free versions because cracked versions have been out for a while and low budget PC gamers that can't afford to pay for games that have old hardware can run their old game anyway. So you might as well give people the option to re-buy their game just because it's DRM-free (yes, I know there's GOG connect, but it doesn't always work. especially with games that just got on GOG) and they're not losing any money anyway.
I think it's a control issue, publishers don't want to give it up regardless of how old the game is.
There is also making the game free on their own platform to lure in customers.
many of those have their own platforms, and they want all the profit. (they don't like to share) Thats the reason why EA, Ubisoft etc don't want to go to GoG; they have their own platforms; and gog is a competitor.
Crysis had DRM out the wazoo, it had always online DRM and now it's on GOG. If you think AAA Publishers aren't open to selling their stuff DRM-free, look at Hollywood, you can't buy a single Hollywood movie without DRM. It bothers me I can buy Oblivion, a 200-hour game DRM-free, but I can't fucking buy Dr Phibes DRM-free.
It's not impossible but unlikely, especially from the likes of EA (There could be mountains of evidence provinge wrong but I'm too lazy to check gog)
They have a shit load of EA games on GOG, Dead Space, Dragon Age, Spore and Mirror's Edge.
Well then....
Yeah, but those games are pre-origin. They existed before EA had their own client. I'm not sure if this will continue when Crysis 3 becomes 10 years old.
Think I saw the Witcher 3 on there last time I looked.
Here: https://www.gog.com/game/the_witcher_3_wild_hunt_game_of_the_year_edition
gog group is owned by cdproject
The Witcher is always on GOG because it's owned by the same company.
It's like expecting Half-Life to be on Steam.
Yeah publishers want to have full control on their products and they want to eliminate a broker. The only way to convince them that they are wrong and that we want games DRM-free on GOG is not buying from their stores. Most of them can totally ignore GOG because it is not so popular but in most cases they can't ignore Steam but as we can see they are trying to. Blizzard did it, EA don't let you buy any game released after 2011 etc. Only consumers can stop them but it doesn't seem they will.
That would do it.
hellblade is on gog
Outside of CD Projekt Red's own games, I doubt we'll see much in the way of AAA titles on GOG unless GOG comes up with a DRM system comparable to Steam's. Of course DRM-free is one of the selling points of GOG, so I don't know if they are willing to go in that direction.
I don't mean recent AAA Games, I mean what's the arbitrary amount of time it takes for a AAA game to get on Gog, what are the deciding factors?
I'm thinking it involves how many computers there out there that poor people that pirate have a cheap computer to run said game. I think the publisher figure "We're losing money on pirated copies anyway... Might as sell it again without DRM".
Also, Fuck no, Gog has never been about DRM.
DRM is not the case here. Besides they are very easy to crack (week-month after the premiere). You can't find newest AAA titles from EA or Blizzard on Steam which is not DRM-free because as I said before it is mostly about control and if consumers are buying their games from their own platforms they have no reason to place them on GOG or Steam.
oh, oops, my mistake. I think it really comes down to how long the game stays popular after its initial release. If the sales drop off quickly and the game has to be discounted heavily to sell.. then I can see the developer pushing it over to GOG to gain a few extra sales. But if there is a GTA5 situation, where the game continues to sell like madcaps at $40 despite being released in 2015, then I don't see the inclusion of selling the game on a DRM free platform happening.
But outside of DRM, maybe GOG just doesn't appeal enough to a mainstream crowd for bigger publishers to consider releasing some of their older AAA games on it? GOG still has that mid-tier/ indie vibe to it as well. The type of people who are attracted to the place generally aren't there to look for the big AAA titles. But maybe GOG Galaxy will make their storefront a little more accessible to more people?
I agree that most DRM is pretty easy to crack, but all the same it can still act as a deterrent for the less computer savvy user base. Even if most DRM systems don't stop all piracy, it can circumvent it to a point where keeping it in becomes worth it. Steam's DRM is there to give big publishers a piece of mind... It sounds like I am playing devils advocate here, but if big AAA games were 100% easy to pirate for anyone, I don't think we will be seeing as many multi-platform games as we do. I generally look at the DRM in Steam as a necessary evil. But yeah, larger publishers like EA and UBI Soft prefer to run their own storefront clients to add more control over their releases with their own DRM.
This is also why GOG doesn't get flooded with AAA published games, but finds a good market for the mid-tier and indie titles.
The next AAA game to come out on GOG is most likely Cyberpunk 2077.