I forgot they made that one too. It's a really great game, nothing like the rest of their stuff (other than being quality) but definitely worth buying if you find it at all interesting.

Well, curiously I don't. Literally the only thing interesting about it is the fact that it's a Zachtronics game but as you said, it's nothing like their other games which kinda makes the point moot. Maybe I will give it a try eventually, if it ever goes on sale really cheap, but for now I'm not interested.

Like I said at the very beginning - I myself often find GOG's choice of which games to release and which to reject highly questoinable. All I'm saying is that it's sort of silly to call attention to these "lost sales" as every business decision carries with it this "opportunity cost". Releasing Magnum Opus would come with its own opportunity cost of some hypothetical or "potential" loses. And while we can question GOGs choice of gmaes looking at their quality, devs, genre etc. we don't really have the information to weigh those costs and have to presume GOG did so, and made the choice accordingly.

I haven't, and I won't. I can easily see they're not something I'd enjoy, and the business sim/programing/city building comparisons only confirm that. I absolutely hate that stuff, and consider it the purest form of boredom. Not that I activly want GOG to not release Magnum Opus, I'm jsut entirely indifferent to whether they do so or not.

I don't think that's good reasoning. If we just assume that GOG's decision is sound without questioning it, we only minimise the chances of getting what we want. And it's not like GOG never let a game in after community backlash. From what I recall Braid was initially rejected by GOG but let in after the community raged a bit when Jonathan Blow mentioned publicly that they had rejected it. There may have been other cases like this, not entirely sure right now.

I will vote with both voice and wallet, so that GOG can have a better shot at changing for the better. People will say that GOG is good as it is, though I think that is just burying their heads in the sand. Things won't get better if people don't make it clear that GOG is goofing up.

Make the curator an intern, and create a panel of people who actually like and understand a wide variety of genres. We get various games way later than Steam, in no small part because the curation process doesn't seem to involve active talent searches, or making deals before the release window. Other times, it seems like that developers try to contact GOG and apparently end up in the spam folder. Which is bad on GOG's part, because that erode's GOG's ability to catch opportunities and make the most of them. Not to mention likely to permanently lose development houses.

Heck, let's wind back to when GOG tried to launch their movie distribution. One of the ways they messed up was in failing to cross-promote the AVGN movie, by not selling the AVGN Game. Which is damn strange. For that matter, the Nerd was selling old or unaired episodes on disc - why didn't GOG try to sell those either?

GOG should be making smart plays, using their small size and focus to outdo Steam. Yet...I get a sense that they lost their ability to recognize opportunity, to find something special to set themselves apart, or even possess confidence.

It feels like as if GOG has been left behind. :(

I'm not interested in the game in question, but I find GOG's excuse pretty weak, if the game was in fact refused.

I try to support them as much as possible, but when a game like Dangonronpa or The Nonary Games is and has been available on another platform and not here? I get it where it's available.

If anything, they need to expand beyond their comfort zone of action/rts/strategy/rpg core games a bit. The place is starting to smell a bit musty because they only accept the same types of games anymore, it feels like.

It's not entirely without precedent. Starward Rogue, a game that by all accounts is a very well executed 2D top town Rogue-like, was rejected from GOG because they "didn't like the look of it", even though most of Arcen Games' titles are already on GOG.
It's totally fair if you're indifferent to whether Magnum Opus (or any other reasonably worthwhile game) is released or not on GOG. But remember, just because you don't care about a game doesn't mean that other people shouldn't care about it either.

I will almost always advocate the presence of media that other people enjoy, on the grounds that they in turn will reciprocate and want my own preferences to be fulfilled. If customers are denied their desires, then the odds are that I will also be ignored.

I agree with this, but with the warning that stretching that argument past what is reasonable would give us GOG's version of Greenlight.

I'd really like not to have wade through a sea of shovelware to get whatever decent games there are only because JimBob (and nobody else) decided he would pay to have CrappyShooter7™ in his GOG library.
You might be right, as I know nothing about this particular game and I noticed our tastes tend to align, so I will at least check it out. But as darkangelz said above projected sales must be a factor in this decision — in fact, it should be the primary factor in deciding if a game should be released here. If their projections are wrong, that's what the Community Wishlist is for.

So what kind of game is it? A puzzle game?

Yeah, quite a lot like all of the other Zachtronic games. I like them all (that I've played) even though I'm far too dumb for them LOL. I haven't played the original one (which I don't even think can be bought anymore and the name escapes now but it was a rather long name IIRC) and the I havne't bought or played Ironplayed Tactics. And I think then I'm only missing one other Zachtronic Games.

If you liked Space Chem you will like this one. If you didn't like Space Chem, you probably won't like this one. Too me, the Zactronics one (that I've played) that this one most closely resembles is probably Space Chem.

It's their crowning achievement...

^This^

Huh. I'd buy it here if GOG decides to add it to the catalog.

Someone may correct me on this, but GOG seems to be releasing about a new game per day.
It may be that they have better games (meaning games with greater prospects of profit) waiting in the pipeline and they don't have an "opening" for this one. If this is true, it is not a case of "not good enough for us" but "not better than the alternatives we already have".
Still, I would like the chance to take a look at it.