The guys at GOG have renewed their efforts to defy their name and attract ever more new indie games to their service. Developers will submit forms via a new portal and have their entries sifted through by staff who are “always ready to openly discuss your game”.
“We are not machines,” say the distributors. “We talk.”
The form is a simple affair with just enough room to accommodate a brief description of the game in question, alongside details of its platforms, DLC, release status and use of microtransactions (have GOG ever had to deal with those?).
“We’ll tell you exactly what we think about your title,” say GOG. “We know our users’ tastes, and we do our best to present them with a selection of DRM-free games they’ll enjoy. We review all submissions and pick those that offer the qualities our users value most, such as gameplay depth, originality, and a high level of polish.”
Whether the game is accepted or not, GOG pledge to write back within two weeks: “We will never leave you without feedback!”
The distributors plan to entice indies with the guarantee of a social media campaign – which includes the potential to be caught up in one of the site’s kerr-azy marketing pushes – and a featured spot on the service’s home page when their game is released. Plus, they’re offering an advance on royalties.
“This way you get some extra budget to put the final polish on your game and feel more confident about us as your business partner,” they write.
There’s a catch: GOG will take a 40% cut of the money made on the game until the advance is recouped. Beyond that, they’ll revert to the usual 70/30 developer/distributor split, consistent with Steam.
Then there’s this series of gushing endorsements from To The Moon’s Kan Gao, The Real Texas’ Calvin French, Defender’s Quest’s Lars Doucet and Driftmoon’s Anne & Ville Mönkönnen:
I’ve only played one GOG-exclusive indie game to date, and that was the somewhat special Signal Ops. Buggy as all heck to begin with, mind, but since fixed.
Anyway, onto more important matters: can we please get a consensus on the pronunciation? Is it ‘gee-oh-gee’ or ‘gog’?
Thanks to @LewieP for this one.