GOG.com

[Cat Headed Eagle]

What makes steam make less "obtainable"? They can't afford denuvo thats for sure. Dunno, sounds like they're retarded thinking like valve would care, I mean they do let you know:
https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/drm

Apparently for them it's a matter of being less easy for tech illiterate people to just pirate a steam game. Plus everyone being used to Steam as a default. I don't have the tweets at hand but a lot of indie devs are very anti gog for some reason.

 

[Dr Skeleton]

I don't see how Galaxy helps to track sales. Someone buys the game with or without Galaxy, GoG notes the sale, the devs get their money minus whatever the cut GoG gets. It doesn't matter if the buyer buys the game through the website or with Galaxy. At the end of the month the dev of the good old game Furry Hentai Hitler 4 sees that they sold 5 copies on GoG this months. Whoever bought the game downloads the installer and now can make as many "pirated copies" as they want, no cracking of any kind required, this a lower bar than we had 30 years ago with CD keys or writing random lines from a manual, essentially no copy protection at all. Convenient for customers, but also good for piracy.

So I can see why an indie dev thinks that having a GoG version is pirate friendly. It is. Now, the game probably would get pirated anyway, but maybe that extra hurdle will help a little, or maybe if a game is obscure enough no one will bother with uploading it? Maybe it's delusional, but at the very least it's technically true that putting a game on GoG makes it easier to pirate. This part makes sense.

I just don't get how Galaxy factors in this in any way, both for sales tracking and piracy. Games bought on GoG are tied to the buyer's account, bought/accessed with or with no Galaxy. Galaxy is not mandatory. Even if it was, the offline installer and versions downloaded with Galaxy both have zero copy protection. Even if GoG somehow secretly tracks pirated/backup copies with Galaxy (which they don't, it would be a massive pain in the ass to implement for no real benefit and someone would've figured it out by now), whoever uploads GoG installers or downloads these pirated copies could simply... not use Galaxy?

I'd be curious to hear how an indie dev who sells games on Steam/GoG explains the logic of this, because it makes zero sense to me. Is it seriously just that having a client that tracks achievements and game time makes lazy people less likely to pirate?

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

My guess is that Galaxy helps keeping up an active count of players akin to the info you can find in SteamDB. GOG truly, REALLY wants you to use Galaxy, they've made it their defacto downloader for pretty much everything. There was a time where certain games' offline installers still made you install Galaxy, but I don't think they do that anymore. The offline installer isn't the main warhorse of GOG's promises anymore, it's more like a convenience in case you can't access an internet connection but still want to play games (made irrelevant with Steam's offline mode anyways).

 

[Avonaeon]

Oh they care, over the years a lot of them have been asked if they plan on a GOG release of their games and that's the answer they gave.

Their loss. I don't think the indies that did release on GOG are thinking this way.

The first game I worked (mobile) on got pirated on a forum and our course of actions was kindly asking them to move it to the correct sub-forum. Ended getting a few more sales just from that, that I doubt we would have gotten otherwise.

IMHO pirating isn't a problem if you treat your customers right. If anything, it helps reach people who might not have heard of or tried your game otherwise.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

At this point in time pirating is much more of a hassle than buying games, especially considering healthy sales are almost non stop for pc. You either have to be a full on unemployed neet or you're living in a country that's blacklisted or something, like Australia, for piracy to be a real benefit. Valve really did change a lot in the gaming landscape, if it's good or bad that's another matter though.

Although, GOG has done a lot to kill Abandonware communities, which aren't legal, but they are hunting down sites who offer games they sell.

 

[Dr Skeleton]

My guess is that Galaxy helps keeping up an active count of players akin to the info you can find in SteamDB.

Maybe? That's still a worse way of tracking sales than, well, the actual number of sales and doesn't help with piracy. And I think the active player count is really only relevant to bigger budget games with a major MP component (which are not on GoG), I don't get what useful info an indie dev gets from that data, but ok, that's some sort of an explanation, I can see some devs asking for that.

GOG truly, REALLY wants you to use Galaxy, they've made it their defacto downloader for pretty much everything. There was a time where certain games' offline installers still made you install Galaxy, but I don't think they do that anymore. The offline installer isn't the main warhorse of GOG's promises anymore, it's more like a convenience in case you can't access an internet connection but still want to play games (made irrelevant with Steam's offline mode anyways).

True. I use Galaxy. Not because I like it, because the convenience of it informing me that a game I'm playing has a new version that Galaxy can download and auto update is too good too ignore. With how new games still get dozens of often major patches for months, sometimes years after release, I only use offline installers for the actually old games.

At this point in time pirating is much more of a hassle than buying games, especially considering healthy sales are almost non stop for pc.

Also true. Why should I bother pirating? The really old games usually cost next to nothing, the rest goes on crazy discounts every other months. Oh, and there are also refunds. Maybe the new releases, but then I'd run into the problem with the game getting a new patch every week and the pirated version would go unupdated, so again the convenience problem from the previous point about using Galaxy, I'm way too lazy to manually download and apply patches if Galaxy or Steam does it for me, I'm for sure too lazy to track down and download a pirated copy of a new version of the game every time a new patch comes out, that's just not happening.
It really only makes sense for games that are just not available anywhere, but then I wouldn't even consider it piracy, even if it technically is.
edit: maybe also for games with really annoying DRM that makes the legit copy worse to play than a pirated one, but I can't say I've ever run into that problem.

 

[octavius]

At this point in time pirating is much more of a hassle than buying games, especially considering healthy sales are almost non stop for pc. You either have to be a full on unemployed neet or you're living in a country that's blacklisted or something, like Australia, for piracy to be a real benefit. Valve really did change a lot in the gaming landscape, if it's good or bad that's another matter though.

You'd think time was much more of an issue than money these days. So I'm surprised piracy is still such a problem.
There's a bazillion cheap games to buy, but nobody sells you the most precious commodity in the Universe: Time.

Or maybe for convenience piracy is an option. I used to buy movies, but I started pirating due to being fed up with DVDs having unskippable anti-piracy screens. I already bought it, all right? So why pester me? It's like the definition of counter-productive.

 

[Dr Skeleton]

I imagine there's still some kids in poorer countries that pirate just because they can or because they can't get a convenient legal way (a parent's credit card) to pay for games. But that's probably a rapidly shrinking demographics, Steam is ubiquitous and has regional pricing, seems like the people who even know how to pirate things are the older generation now.

Or maybe for convenience piracy is an option. I used to buy movies, but I started pirating due to being fed up with DVDs having unskippable anti-piracy screens. I already bought it, all right? So why pester me? It's like the definition of counter-productive.

Yup. Movies somehow ended up in the reverse situation to most games in terms of convenience, you get an objectively better experience by pirating. You can sign up to multiple different services with all of your data and pay continuously, so you can stream a version of the movie the provider chooses and can take away at any moment, if it's available in your region at all. Vs find a torrent of the movie in the version and resolution you want, download, watch on any device you want and keep how long you want.

 

[Zoo]

My guess is that Galaxy helps keeping up an active count of players akin to the info you can find in SteamDB. GOG truly, REALLY wants you to use Galaxy, they've made it their defacto downloader for pretty much everything. There was a time where certain games' offline installers still made you install Galaxy, but I don't think they do that anymore. The offline installer isn't the main warhorse of GOG's promises anymore, it's more like a convenience in case you can't access an internet connection but still want to play games (made irrelevant with Steam's offline mode anyways).

If you use the Galaxy as downloader, you don't need it to play the games. It's very unreliable source for datas, it couldn't even track game time, if it's shutted down.

I have terrible experiences with Steam's offline mode, but I didn't even try it again in the latter years.

 

[Azdul]

At this point in time pirating is much more of a hassle than buying games, especially considering healthy sales are almost non stop for pc.

Also true. Why should I bother pirating? The really old games usually cost next to nothing, the rest goes on crazy discounts every other months. Oh, and there are also refunds. Maybe the new releases, but then I'd run into the problem with the game getting a new patch every week and the pirated version would go unupdated, so again the convenience problem from the previous point about using Galaxy, I'm way too lazy to manually download and apply patches if Galaxy or Steam does it for me, I'm for sure too lazy to track down and download a pirated copy of a new version of the game every time a new patch comes out, that's just not happening.
It really only makes sense for games that are just not available anywhere, but then I wouldn't even consider it piracy, even if it technically is.
edit: maybe also for games with really annoying DRM that makes the legit copy worse to play than a pirated one, but I can't say I've ever run into that problem.

In many countries, esp. with weak currency, buying legitimate 70$ (or even 40$) copy was never an option.

The best proof of it is that Sony requires PSN account to run their games, even if PSN is not available in some countries. Somehow it is not seen as 'lost potential sales' in the same way as piracy is.

Even if game has perfect, unbreakable DRM, life will find a way. You can buy 'physical copy' - harddrive with game installed and paid for using stolen credit card. Or 'digital copy' - credentials to Steam account with a game assigned to it.

 

[Zoo]

At this point in time pirating is much more of a hassle than buying games, especially considering healthy sales are almost non stop for pc.

Also true. Why should I bother pirating? The really old games usually cost next to nothing, the rest goes on crazy discounts every other months. Oh, and there are also refunds. Maybe the new releases, but then I'd run into the problem with the game getting a new patch every week and the pirated version would go unupdated, so again the convenience problem from the previous point about using Galaxy, I'm way too lazy to manually download and apply patches if Galaxy or Steam does it for me, I'm for sure too lazy to track down and download a pirated copy of a new version of the game every time a new patch comes out, that's just not happening.
It really only makes sense for games that are just not available anywhere, but then I wouldn't even consider it piracy, even if it technically is.
edit: maybe also for games with really annoying DRM that makes the legit copy worse to play than a pirated one, but I can't say I've ever run into that problem.

In many countries, esp. with weak currency, buying legitimate 70$ (or even 40$) copy was never an option.

The best proof of it is that Sony requires PSN account to run their games, even if PSN is not available in some countries. Somehow it is not seen as 'lost potential sales' in the same way as piracy is.

Even if game has perfect, unbreakable DRM, life will find a way. You can buy 'physical copy' - harddrive with game installed and paid for using stolen credit card. Or 'digital copy' - credentials to Steam account with a game assigned to it.

Eventually almost every newer game becomes cheap or bundled or Game Passed etc. Of course, many people have the mental disorder to feel that they must play even single player games when they are new.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Another giveaway.
This time Vambrace: Cold Soul.

 

[KeAShizuku]

GOG was good when they stayed in their lane. There was a small profit to be made in being the store for old games. But I have been noticing that you can find more of them on Steam now so IDK that bridge may have burned.

This DRM free stuff was never going to work out. The vast majority of consumers could not give a shit (we all know how gamer boycotts pan out) and publishers love DRM.

You just can't beat Valve.

I won't buy anything 'Rockstar' since they removed soundtrack from the games I supposedly 'own', with Valve cooperation in enforcing mandatory patches. Not to mention that Steam publishers do not really have incentive to remove DRM when it stops working, leaving customers with non-working game.

There is a market for DRM-free games, and when GOG does not deliver, smaller players like Zoom or Itch.io will step in. Or developers will sell the games directly, knowing that for some people DRM is a deal breaker.

In last 5 years I've never found any game exciting enough to buy DRM copy from Steam.

Yeah but that's kinda my point. GTA6 will have DRM and I doubt it will ever be on GOG...
The gaming industry marches on.

 

[Morgoth]

GOG Joins European Federation of Game Archives, Museums and Preservation Projects (EFGAMP), Expanding its Game Preservation Efforts

January 14, 2025 — GOG, a leading European platform for digital game distribution, joins the European Federation of Game Archives, Museums, and Preservation Projects (EFGAMP), the largest organization in Europe dedicated to preserving video games as cultural heritage.
Founded in 2012, EFGAMP represents more than 20 heritage institutions and other organizations, ranging from grassroots initiatives to national libraries, that collect and preserve digital games. Its members include renowned members such as VIGAMUS — The Video Game Museum in Rome, MO5.COM in France, Computerspielemuseum in Berlin, The Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision, and Embracer Games Archive. GOG is the first Polish institution to join, marking a significant step in bridging the private sector with cultural organizations across Europe.
“GOG was created with video game preservation in mind”, said Maciej Gołębiewski, Managing Director at GOG. “Classic games and the mission to safeguard them for future generations have always been at the core of our work. Over the past decade, we’ve honed our expertise in this area. The GOG Preservation Program, which ensures compatibility for over 100 games and delivers hundreds of enhancements, is just one example of this commitment. We were thrilled to see the Program warmly received not only by our players but also by our partners and the gaming industry as a whole”.

GOG Preservation Program
The GOG Preservation Program launched in 2024 to ensure that over 100 classic titles remain accessible and playable. Games included in the Program have received 566 enhancements so far and earned an average user rating of 4.2/5. These efforts allow players to rediscover iconic games while ensuring their compatibility with modern systems. The program’s launch received overwhelmingly positive feedback from players, partners, and media, further validating GOG’s mission.
Video game preservation is a pressing topic not only in the video game industry but also in mainstream culture as concerns about the disappearance of digital media grow. PC Gamer’s Rich Stanton noted, "2024 was the year gamers really started pushing back on the erosion of game ownership". Similarly, Game Developer highlighted video game preservation as a key trend in its article, "2024 Wrap-Up: The Top Trends That Defined 2024".
Gołębiewski further explained that GOG’s role in preservation extends beyond its platform. He highlighted, “As a European company, we feel a responsibility to lead in preserving gaming heritage. Joining EFGAMP reinforces this commitment. Our next step is to expand institutional collaboration with museums and governmental and non-governmental organizations worldwide. We hope our experience will contribute meaningfully to their efforts. We are also discussing exciting new game preservation projects, which we look forward to sharing soon”.

“GOG brings a unique perspective to EFGAMP as a European leader in digital game distribution”, said Andreas Lange, COO of EFGAMP. “Their experience in making classic games accessible to modern audiences complements the work of our existing members by bringing further digital expertise to our collective efforts. As GOG distributes classic games worldwide, GOG is a fantastic addition to EFGAMP, whose members are primarily rooted in the cultural heritage sector”.
By joining EFGAMP, GOG reinforces its position as one of the global champions in game preservation and a passionate advocate for this critical cause. It remains dedicated to protecting gaming’s cultural legacy and ensuring players worldwide can continue enjoying the titles that shaped the medium.

You might never know when Gaben gets eaten by a shark.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Early access:
Banquet for Fools.
https://af.gog.com/en/game/banquet_for_fools?as=1649904300