As I understand it, it's legal for Germans to buy and own the game, but shops, magazines etc. aren't allowed to advertise it. Not sure what the rules for online stores are, especially international ones.

Oh well, good thing GOG started to cater specifically towards the German market a while back, with their German version of the site and all. I mean, before that, no one really gave a fuck about local laws, and I suspect the German customers they already had at the time never wanted or asked for this new "feature"... but hey, Good News™!

What's really annoying, is that they actually offered the game for several days. It's like someone offering you cookies, then pulling them away just as you're about to have a bite. They should have just done their homework right from the start, and never offer it to the German market. Doing it this way seems unprofessional, if nothing else.

Any store that sells to country X has to abide by that country's laws as well. So if a country has a law forbidding the sale of a game, the store cannot legally sell the game to that country.
Whether there is a law against selling Dying Light in Germany is a different matter.

Right?
if this was the case they shouldn't have offered the chance to get it in the first place.

From what I recall from SimonG's posts, for a store to sell such items it is required to verify that the viewer/buyer is an adult. For quite a few of the digital distributors that would be quite an issue, thus they prefer to not carry such items.
It is a similar case to which stores are allowed to sell porn, and what are the requirements to do so from what I recall.

They cannot legally sell to any country if they do not comply with that country's laws. Internet-based businesses are bound by the laws in the buyer's country, not just the country they operate out of.

EDIT - Epic ninja'd!

Plus they've done it quietly. Would have been nice if they would at least tell people about it.

You are getting better though. Yesterday it was 9 minutes, today it's less than 5. In a week you'll be the one ninja'ing us I'd say :)

It's this damn tablet, I type too slow on it!

Except, going by German law, that would also include all 18+ games, including their very own Witcher 3. So I guess they chose to follow German law... kind of. Sort of. A whee tiny bit.

GOG's ToS does say that it is intended for people aged 18+, but they do not verify that. I do seem to recall at least one user who was underage and had set the correct birthday as being unable to buy the Witcher (2 I think), so there does seem to be a simple check on that front. But for indexed games, a dropdown menu doesn't cover it.
No idea if the dropdown covers the 18+ ones, not versed into law, German or otherwise.

I know that there are a few games that, in Russia, would be illegal for those under 18 years of age because of a discriminatory law. From what I understand, Undertale and Stardew Valley would be illegal because they portray same-sex relationships (and in the case of Stardew Valley, even marriage) in something other than a negative light. I hear that the newest Sims game was rated 18+ there as a result of the law, and the producers of the movie Carol were forbidden from advertising it there.

Of course, in any country with sane laws, these games don't have any age restrictions, and they shouldn't.

Note that GOG sells both Undertale and Stardew Valley, and I haven't heard of any issues with those games being available in Russia.

It doesn't. As a general rule, if you'd like to order an adults only game ( or film etc. ) in Germany, you need to prove your age. There's a few ways to go about that, but a simple webpage check-box or anything like that won't do. And for all I know there's no distinction between "indexed" 18+ titles or regular ones. The process should be the same, aside from stores not being allowed to advertise such games as I mentioned.

In my mind when reading that, and checking that it is in fact true.

How would you prove that though.

Good news!

I don't live in Germany! Whew! :P

(don't throw your bratwursts at me, it was just a joke!)