GOG drops regional pricing as "mistake," apologizes

GOG has reversed its decision to include regional pricing on some upcoming games, calling it a “mistake” after nearly 10,000 (mostly negative) comments poured into their forums .

. In a thorough apology, GOG co-founders Marcin Iwinski and Guillaume Rambourg write that they should never have made that call.

Some background: when GoodOldGames.com relaunched as GOG, it formalized two central values: that every game should be sold DRM-free, and every game should be sold for the same price everywhere in the world—two declarations that stood it apart from competitor Steam. Gamers in Australia should never pay more than gamers in Sweden, GOG declared, and absolutely no one should suffer through DRM. Publishers of some games, like Age of Wonders 3, weren't totally on board with abandoning regional prices, so GOG began to budge on the flat-price promise in order to get more games into its DRM-free storefront.

“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,” Iwinski and Rambourge wrote today. “Us being sorry is not of much use to you, so let's talk about how we will fix it.”

The most interesting new change: when GOG fails to get a publisher to agree to flat, worldwide pricing, GOG will eat the difference themselves. “We will adamantly continue to fight for games with flat worldwide pricing. If that fails and we are required to have regional prices, we will make up the difference for you out of our own pockets.”

From now on, games at GOG will be sold around the world at US prices—either because the publisher agreed to it, or because the price increase is being offset by store credit from GOG. It's a great deal for international gamers, and a graceful exit to a turbulent two weeks in the GOG community. Check out the full apology at GOG.