I've always loved GOG's value proposition: DRM-free, old-school exe installers on your disk, no activation needed, no limit on the number of installs, can redownload at any time with all associated assets.
No confusion over who actually owns the games. You buy a copy of a game, not some ill-defined permission to play a game.
I'm just concerned these constant promotions will condition their customers to always wait for the next massive sale, never paying full price for anything. Isn't that unsustainable?
I think it's sustainable, it's not exclusively about getting the games cheaply it's also about removing the consequences for buying games you don't like. If I buy a game on GOG or HumbleBundle and never play it I don't feel any remorse, and I do it again and again and again.
I think they've been forced to follow the market there. In the early days they criticised this approach in interviews, and stuck to just two pricepoints ($5.99 and $9.99). As they've expanded, they've increased the range of pricepoints and now you have things like the Telltale Games adventures which have massive RRPs but are ~75-85% off in a sale http://www.gog.com/game/tales_of_monkey_island
I'm not sure the economics of the gaming industry work the way most of us would intuitively expect. Gabe Newell has published some fascinating information about how Steam evolved to its current model and the effects of their short-term, massive-cut sales. Spoiler: They can be very profitable, because you increase your number of sales by a much higher multiplier than you reduced the price.
No confusion over who actually owns the games. You buy a copy of a game, not some ill-defined permission to play a game.
I'm just concerned these constant promotions will condition their customers to always wait for the next massive sale, never paying full price for anything. Isn't that unsustainable?