GOG lives on but at a cost?

Following the confusion that greeted its apparent closure earlier this week, suspicions that retro games service Good Old Games is in fact not closing have been confirmed.

The site, which specialises in the sale of DRM-free cult PC hits, has confirmed that it has exited its beta phase and now gone fully live, complete with a brand new look and a host of new features. In addition, the site has signed agreements with Hasbro and BioWare that will see titles from the labels released on the site.

However, the saga will likely be remembered for the huge backlash the company experienced thanks to its unconventional announcement.

Last week the site was taken down and replaced with a message that read:

We have recently had to give serious thought to whether we could really keep GOG.com the way it is and unfortunately we’ve decided that GOG.com simply cannot remain in its current form.

We’re very grateful for all support we’ve received from all of you in the past two years. This doesn’t mean the idea behind GOG.com is gone forever. We’re closing down the service and putting this era behind us as new challenges await.”

Question marks were quickly raised, though, when representatives from the firm immediately began stating that the message didn’t necessarily mean that the site was closing, and that customers should not panic”.

The vocal internet minority reacted with predictable horror, with punters claiming that the site’s decision to block access in the name of marketing had lead them to abandon it for good.

We’ve decided to celebrate our second anniversary in typical GOG fashion: big, loud and with style,” GOG’s MD Guillaume Rambourg stated.

Announcing the agreement with Hasbro and launching the new site was a perfect way to finally leave the beta stage. We’re very excited to see users’ reactions to the new features and we’re exceptionally excited to see how they like the Hasbro deal and the incredible games we’re releasing in the coming weeks. It’s worth waiting for every new release.”

Time will tell whether possible customer losses will be offset by the new users won by the exposure granted by the stunt.