GoG, the evolution of Good Old Games, may be looking to return to more of its roots after another few months of disappointing financial results. Although the developer behind it, CD Projekt Red, continues to make heaps of cash thanks to its major franchises like The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077, its DRM-free storefront has been losing millions every few months for all of 2021, so now it's looking to do something a little different -- by doing what it once did.
"Regarding GOG—its performance does present a challenge and recently we've taken measures to improve its financial standing," CD Projekt CFO, Piotr Nielubowicz, said in an investors call. "First and foremost, we've decided that GOG should focus more on its core business activity—which means offering a handpicked selection of games with its unique DRM-free philosophy."
Although GoG has remained almost exclusively DRM-free over the years, it has launched a few games with an online-requirement -- such as Hitman Game of The Year Edition. That caused a big blowback from the GoG community, so it makes a lot of sense for GoG to try to recapture its image with a push back towards older and more indie games.
The problem is, GoG is a medium-sized store in a sea of bigger and smaller competitors. Fanatical, GreenManGaming, and HumbleBundle have a decent stake in the indie and smaller game space, while Steam and Epic Games Store dominate at the high end with mass numbers and big exclusives.
GoG is somewhere in between and as we've seen from game developers over the past few years, that's a space that's hard to stay afloat in.
Still, focusing GoG's efforts more on specifically curated games and less on competing with Steam and Epic may be the better choice for GoG moving forward. What do you think?