They could simply state the DRM-free/GOG release date clearly somewhere, either on GOG or in their own media channels, so people would know when the DRM-free version is coming out. No need to put DRM in DRM-free releases in the meantime.

There's no way what you are proposing would increase any sales, at least not on GOG.
People who are OK with DRM would buy the game elsewhere as they are doing now, and people who have issues with DRM would not buy during those DRM months or would simply stop buying at all.

I honestly think that move will only cause less people to buy, especially when people don't usually take that long to finish a game, let alone replaying to finish the game completely 100%. And if we were to use that example of 6 months, the benefit of having the game accessible not through DRM is basically lost on them since by that time people most likely have already finished the game. And during those 6 months people have also been left with annoying problems of internet connections that may prevent then from accessing the games they bought. So in a way it's the same as buying a game on Steam, played it in less than 6 months, and no longer touch it ever again.

And of course like what the users above me have mentioned, there's no telling that those game companies would stay true to their words and keep their promise. Especially when there are many games here that are not as up to date as their Steam counterparts, probably due to their companies forgetting about their games that are released here on GOG, or they just simply abandoned them seeing that it's already pretty much a common knowledge that big AAA game companies would only release their older games here or just do so as a means to improve their cashflows whenever they're in trouble.

Exactly. We already have "red flag" examples here like Saints Row 3 Remastered. (Releases game that doesn't work without Galaxy -> GOG 'investigates' -> Developer refuses to fix -> GOG goes very quiet in case the game gets pulled from the store completely). That's what a "timed DRM-Free guarantee" would look like in practise here...

Yes, but I wouldn't buy the game until they fulfill their promise.

As for whether GOG "should" or "shouldn't" release such a game, up to them, their decision. I am only a customer who votes with his wallet, not a stock owner who dictates how GOG should run their business. If they feel they need to start selling games with DRM, then fine, but then I will most probably use less of my money on GOG (and gaming overall).

The third option is the worst: we don't get the game DRM-free at all.

Hence, having the game here with a delayed DRM-freeness is preferable to not having the game DRM-free at all, especially in this store which has most of my other DRM-free games and it is easy to download their installers with a web browser or alternative 3rd party downloaders.

Of course, from my point of view 2 is not really different from delaying the GOG release until the game is DRM-free. Take for example Skyrim or the Dishonored games. Look how long it took them to get their DRM-free release on GOG... but I still prefer this, to not having them here DRM-free at all, which is the third option.

I disagree. I'd rather wait for a proper release than see GOG embrace DRM. People said many times over in the past - "Deus Ex Human Revolution won't come to GOG, Square Enix is Japanese owned and they usually love DRM". "Skyrim SE won't come to GOG, look at all the work they'll have to do to remove Creation Club online requirements". Yet with a little patience here we are.

Also not being on GOG doesn't necessarily not being DRM-Free anywhere. Bioshock 1 was DRM-Free on Humble for years before it came to GOG. Heretic & Hexen were DRM-Free on Steam for years before they came to GOG, Costume Quest 2 is DRM-Free on both Epic & Steam but still isn't on GOG, games that used to be here on GOG but were removed, eg, Duke Nukem and Gray Matter are sold elsewhere DRM-Free, etc. Many AAA's on Epic are DRM-Free and if anything it's these that have accidentally ended up competing with GOG more than vs DRM'd Steam games. Had it not already been released here, who in their right mind would have bought "Dishonored GOGWorks-DRM'd edition" here after Epic gave it away DRM-Free over Xmas?...

Once GOG introduces "limited, timed" DRM it'll eventually turn into full-blown limitless DRM. Besides it'll be a death spell, and you can expect news websites like PC Gamer and Kotaku to run the news and destroy any and all perception that GOG is THE DRM-free store. Even with all the shenanigans that unfold here, the people running this website are neither that stupid nor incompetent.

I see where the OP is coming from, Specially with the "sloppy seconds" comment.

But fully Agree with others, adding timed DRM will just lead to more and more DRM, and then over longer periods until its normalised.

Personally I'd just like to see some kind of upfront commitment by Pubs and GoG.

Having a Coming soon or Pre-purchase page on GoG on day 1 of a games DRMed release would be great.

Give consumers an informed choice.

When a game comes out Steam only, it could be hours, days, weeks, months, years or never, when it comes to GoG; and almost always we have got zero idea which it will be.

While about 8% of PC gamers prefer to use GoG, 80-90% of them will use Steam if they think there is no other option.

I think a lot more GoG users would hold out on buying a game on Steam if they had absolute knowledge a game is definitely coming to GoG rather than existing on faith and hope.

Don't we have "in development" games that fail to deliver on their initial promises, are released half-baked, or remain in what seems like a perpetual "in development" state?
Removing DRM should be an easy promise to keep but, given this scenario, OP's proposal doesn't seem a good idea to me.

Why wouldn't they just release the game DRM free 6 months late?

The point is in those 6 months people are buying elsewhere, starving GoG of sales and Market share.

Divinity 2: Original Sin sold 8% on PC sales on GoG.
Not Tonight, sold about 1%

The difference between the marketing of these games. The first was open and clear and very up front "THIS IS COMING TO GOG!", the second did a Stealth Day 1 release just a few hours after its Steam release and the publisher never marketed a GoG release.

Most GoG users, if they think there is no other option will use Steam even if they prefer GOG.

Its about getting the sales via GoG, increasing its market influence and allowing more games to come here.

Well, they don't need a DRM-ful release on GOG to achieve that visibility. Just announce the release and have it show up in upcoming games, with a release date. I don't think GOG users have any trouble waiting, the only trouble is when we literally have no idea whether a given game is ever going to show up.. this can be solved without DRM.

True but half the time it's entirely self-inflicted and little to do with DRM. Eg, Gloomwood was added to this store in Oct 2020. It's still "Coming Soon (tm)..." in Jan 2023 despite releasing on Steam on 6th Sep 2022 (ie, it took 2 years to go from "we'll give the impression of 'any minute now' but it's actually complete vapourware" to "we're merely starting its Early Access phase"). Graven wasn't that much better 'releasing' 20% complete (in a state that 20 years ago would have been a free Shareware Demo). So we already have a "6 month GOG delay" even for DRM-Free games and for many such games any GOG delays aren't due to 'we oppose DRM-Free', it's more "We can't be bothered to update our half-finished game on more than one store until its actually complete", and adding DRM to GOG versions isn't going to improve that situation in the slightest.

Your suggestion of making a "We are coming to GOG on x date" much clearer and earlier is certainly a good one, but as with so many other things (missing updates, missing changelogs, broken offline installers) it's worth only as much as what GOG are willing to enforce vs "not rocking the boat" with publishers.

OP is presenting a very interesting and also very good idea.

I support this idea on two conditions:

1) GOG guarantees that any devs who do not remove the DRM by the specified date will have their games delisted off of GOG, and they will also be blacklisted from listing any further games on GOG too, and also

2) any GOG customers who paid for the DRM-ed version and then the DRM was not removed by the specified date, they automatically get a full refund of the purchase price, and they don't even have to request it, and they don't have to contact GOG in any way in order to ask for that refund.

Without those conditions though, and if we have to "just take their [the devs] word for it" that the DRM will be removed, then that's a whole different story. In that case, this idea goes from being a great idea to being a bad and unviable idea.

Company: "Oh, no! We've been blacklisted from selling anything at GOG. Guess we'll have to stick to making way more money at Steam. Boo hoo! We're so sad."

^ This. A lot of people mistakenly think adding DRM to GOG games will fix the completely separate issue of serious abuse of In Dev / Early Access status (constantly releasing games half-finished then grumbling when all those dozens of updates required to finish them will need to be be multiplied by the number of stores they want to sell on). So they either miss updates here (resulting in a bad rep / low reviews / lost sales) or they only bother with a GOG release later on with "DRM" being the excuse code-phrase for "it's too much work to support an additional platform / Galaxy-specific achievements, etc, at this time of busy development, but we may consider a GOG release later on"). It's just another plague that's Steam's "Early Access" foisted upon the world that "coincidentally" just happens to benefit only Steam in penalizing developers (through multiplication of workload) if they want to release on more than one store equally right from the start.