Sad news, it seems GOG Galaxy won't actually be released for Linux any time soon. They may eventually get to it, but it's "not a priority".
For those that don't know, GOG now have their own Steam-like client called Galaxy. It offers things like Cloud Saves, an in-game overlay, bandwidth limiting, capturing screenshots, desktop notifications and more.
While optional, a fair few games have begun depending on it and therefore they end up not releasing Linux versions on GOG. A problem that has increased recently with a few titles.
All discussion on it, can be found in this post on the GOG forum. I would link to stuff directly, but it appears their links to specific posts don't actually do anything.
Here's one that caught my attention when sent it earlier:
They continued in another post:
And another:
It's a real shame for those who don't like Steam for various reasons and prefer GOG, this is a bit of a let down really. Especially considering this is the first solid reply we've had since Galaxy was announced in 2014. It feels like we've been waiting all this time for something, when it wasn't even being planned for yet. If you go to the official GOG Galaxy page and you're quick enough, it will flash text below the download button which includes "and soon for Linux".
Personally, I really hope more developers put their games on itch.io. They offer a good service, their site is nice, their open source client is also pretty slick. Not saying GOG are bad or evil (I'm very fond of GOG's work to bring classics back to life with DOSBox), but it's good to have alternatives.
It should go without saying, but when speaking to developers, it pays to remain as polite as possible. Also remember, this person likely isn't the one making the decisions on this. Don't shoot the messenger. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
For those that don't know, GOG now have their own Steam-like client called Galaxy. It offers things like Cloud Saves, an in-game overlay, bandwidth limiting, capturing screenshots, desktop notifications and more.
While optional, a fair few games have begun depending on it and therefore they end up not releasing Linux versions on GOG. A problem that has increased recently with a few titles.
All discussion on it, can be found in this post on the GOG forum. I would link to stuff directly, but it appears their links to specific posts don't actually do anything.
Here's one that caught my attention when sent it earlier:
QuoteWe're not posting any news, as we have no news on GOG Galaxy for Linux. As we stated before we'll eventually bring it to Linux, but currently it's not a priority for us, and we don't have any estimated date to share at this moment.
They continued in another post:
QuoteI'm not saying we're not able to, or we don't know how. But building and maintaining a Linux build will cost us resources, which as in every company are limited. Currently we're not able to spend the time required considering our internal roadmap.
And another:
QuoteGOG Galaxy was made with cross platform compatibility in mind, but each platform is a constant cost (dev, qa) . With our roadmap we don't currently have the resources to maintain the Linux version.
It's a real shame for those who don't like Steam for various reasons and prefer GOG, this is a bit of a let down really. Especially considering this is the first solid reply we've had since Galaxy was announced in 2014. It feels like we've been waiting all this time for something, when it wasn't even being planned for yet. If you go to the official GOG Galaxy page and you're quick enough, it will flash text below the download button which includes "and soon for Linux".
Personally, I really hope more developers put their games on itch.io. They offer a good service, their site is nice, their open source client is also pretty slick. Not saying GOG are bad or evil (I'm very fond of GOG's work to bring classics back to life with DOSBox), but it's good to have alternatives.
It should go without saying, but when speaking to developers, it pays to remain as polite as possible. Also remember, this person likely isn't the one making the decisions on this. Don't shoot the messenger. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I'm not even remotely surprised this happened. They kept saying a Linux client would soon come soon, but it never did. So sad, but the market share is still not enough to convince many developers.
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Less market segmentation is good for the customer. Keep buying from existing places. It's not like GOG is full of GOG-exclusive titles.
Less competition is bad for the customer.
But GOG doesn't want to be competitive on Linux , they want to be competitive on Windows and MacOS. You can tell that by judging on games they own and availabilty on also Mac and looking at Galaxy Client.
Then what should Linux customer do? For supporting competition , buying products from a platform basically saying " Linux users , you are second class citizens " ?
Steam is way to go , Itch.io is also a good drm-free market , Humble is providing drm-free versions also.
GOG is not a must when it comes to Drm free.
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oberjaeger Aug 20, 2017
These are the goals that I see we have. Might be missing a point or two and surely everyone has different priorities.
- getting dev to develop native games (and other software as discord, twitch, etc...) for linux
- DRM free games
- binding/independence to a (shop) infarstructure (like steam, origin, paradox, battle.net etc.)
- and we have different players in the market supporting one but not the other and users want this or that
- getting dev to develop native games (and other software as discord, twitch, etc...) for linux
- DRM free games
- binding/independence to a (shop) infarstructure (like steam, origin, paradox, battle.net etc.)
- and we have different players in the market supporting one but not the other and users want this or that
2 Likes, Who?
One can setup DosBox himself yes but keep in mind that not everyone has the same computer skills, using Linux doesn't automatically make a person a geek
Setting up DosBox is much easier then setting up Wine - it explains itself.
You could also use ScummVM for most DOS-Adventures.
DRM-Free - you said that is not important for you. Again this is just you.Nothing to answer back here. Simply my position.
You talk so highly about Valve did this, Gabe did that, I'll give credit where its due and yes I fully agree that without Valve Linux gaming wouldn't be the way it is now (although I cannot forget to mention that it was Humble Bundle which pushed Linux at first), but there's one thing you didn't mention - Valve has a much deeper pocket than GOG which means they can afford some ventures, whereas GOG might be a little more restricted.
I could also mention Linus Torvalds. Without him we would not have Linux at all.
Also Bill Gates. I don't like Windows, but he was the one who brought the PC in our homes and has my full respect for fighting cancer nowadays.
And no, it was not Humble Bundle. It was LGP (Linux Game Publishing), Icculus, TTimo, ...
Valve have more manpower/possibilities than GOG - right. But announcing something and simply never speak about it again has nothing to do with a deeper pocket.
A simple "sorry guys we cannot fullfill it" at the right time (not after years) would have shown that they are still serious and did a mistake.
Nowadays however I have much less credibility, almost everything they stood for has been crumbled. The only thing that keeps me there is the DRM-Free, otherwise they would end up the same way Humble Bundle ended for me.
berillions said they are liars - seems he is not completely wrong. He only used the wrong words because he is desperately disappointed like many.
I've heard it many times from Windows users asking me "but is there GTA V, BF4/1 or Overwatch?" and they would stick to Windows the second I say no.
Some day they all will run in Wine flawlessly out of the box.
Vulkan will hopefully win the race and newer games will arrive natively.
We must simply be patient and keep on showing our need for linux games.
Last edited by johndoe on 20 August 2017 at 12:00 pm UTC
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Luke_Nukem Aug 20, 2017
If you can't control your feelings enough to comment, then don't comment. That screams immaturity.
Many posts here have made some superb attempts at explaining GOG rationale behind their decision, and we should respect that.
I love GOG, they've been the only store I've purchased from for a loooong time just because of their professionalism, great support, and enforcing a standard installer on all games for Linux.
GNUmen to all of this!
Just in case people miss it.
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GOG obviously isn't the brightest spot on the planet, but the alternatives aren't particularly brighter.
Only shop besides GOG that supports paysafecard atm is Steam. But their user experience is about as bad as it gets. The client forces multilib down your throat, there is no easy, at first sight way to discern DRM free and 64bit games (let alone a proper filter), and you cannot download from their web page but have to use `steamcmd`.
And games depending on some specific third party client is the same as shitty middleware everyone loves to complain about.
Edit: While looking up `steamcmd`, I found that even this command line tool requires multilib. Thus Steam is completely out of question for me.
Last edited by iskaputt on 20 August 2017 at 11:22 am UTC
Only shop besides GOG that supports paysafecard atm is Steam. But their user experience is about as bad as it gets. The client forces multilib down your throat, there is no easy, at first sight way to discern DRM free and 64bit games (let alone a proper filter), and you cannot download from their web page but have to use `steamcmd`.
And games depending on some specific third party client is the same as shitty middleware everyone loves to complain about.
Edit: While looking up `steamcmd`, I found that even this command line tool requires multilib. Thus Steam is completely out of question for me.
Last edited by iskaputt on 20 August 2017 at 11:22 am UTC
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Just noting that by stating they were working on it, that it's in progress, that it's coming, they've been lying and deceiving. That's something I can't ever accept from anyone.
Until the GoG Galaxy client comes to Linux, I'm letting GoG sit there without further support from me because of the lies and the lack of Linux versions on games which have Linux binaries available on Steam and other locations.
Speak with your money, because businesses won't listen to your words.
Until the GoG Galaxy client comes to Linux, I'm letting GoG sit there without further support from me because of the lies and the lack of Linux versions on games which have Linux binaries available on Steam and other locations.
Speak with your money, because businesses won't listen to your words.
1 Likes, Who?
I've seen many times here the excuse for GOG that they can not port Galaxy on Linux because they are much smaller than Valve. Desura was also much smaller than Valve, they provided an open source client on Linux. Itch is much smaller than GOG, they provide a client on Linux.
For once, GOG has been clear! They could port it if they wanted to but they won't because it is not a priority. Even if their team was ten times bigger, then they would affect those resources to other priorities but probably not on porting Galaxy. That is how business works.
The problem is not the size of the staff. And it is not that they don't want to port Galaxy. After all, they do what they want. Origin is not on Linux and I see noone here complaining about it.
The problems are they told us 3 years ago it was coming soon, then they told us they were working on it. This was obviously a lie. They told Galaxy was optional but some games do require it for multiplayer, again a lie. And on game pages, it is not obvious that a game requires Galaxy. So buying multiplayer games on GOG for Linux is very risky.
We can't blame GOG for not porting a client on Linux. But we can blame them for this aweful communication. I bought many games on GOG. Now I regret it because I fear Linux support could even be dropped in the future, as Linux is not a priority and obviously we can not trust what they say. Please stop this cult of GOG being the god of stores. They're good, yes they are. But the quality of Linux packages is not better than on Steam, Humble or Itch.
To people arguing that Valve is not doing a lot for Linux Gaming. Whose employes are working on Mesa? Who does have a Linux distribution? Who has most of her games on Linux? Linux is indeed a plan B for Valve, and that perfectly fine. But while Linux is "just" a plan B for them, they are being very nice to us. They kept there word. Of course there are issue and Valve is not God on earth, but Valve does support actively Linux. That's a fact. They are really investing resources to make Linux a solid gaming platform. They don't just take their cut. We should be thankful to that.
For once, GOG has been clear! They could port it if they wanted to but they won't because it is not a priority. Even if their team was ten times bigger, then they would affect those resources to other priorities but probably not on porting Galaxy. That is how business works.
The problem is not the size of the staff. And it is not that they don't want to port Galaxy. After all, they do what they want. Origin is not on Linux and I see noone here complaining about it.
The problems are they told us 3 years ago it was coming soon, then they told us they were working on it. This was obviously a lie. They told Galaxy was optional but some games do require it for multiplayer, again a lie. And on game pages, it is not obvious that a game requires Galaxy. So buying multiplayer games on GOG for Linux is very risky.
We can't blame GOG for not porting a client on Linux. But we can blame them for this aweful communication. I bought many games on GOG. Now I regret it because I fear Linux support could even be dropped in the future, as Linux is not a priority and obviously we can not trust what they say. Please stop this cult of GOG being the god of stores. They're good, yes they are. But the quality of Linux packages is not better than on Steam, Humble or Itch.
To people arguing that Valve is not doing a lot for Linux Gaming. Whose employes are working on Mesa? Who does have a Linux distribution? Who has most of her games on Linux? Linux is indeed a plan B for Valve, and that perfectly fine. But while Linux is "just" a plan B for them, they are being very nice to us. They kept there word. Of course there are issue and Valve is not God on earth, but Valve does support actively Linux. That's a fact. They are really investing resources to make Linux a solid gaming platform. They don't just take their cut. We should be thankful to that.
5 Likes, Who?
In the bigger picture, I don't believe Gabe Newell is doing what he's doing out of love for Linux or gamers. If that was so, he'd have put in all these resources years ago. He's doing it because Windows is closing things down and he's worried about his/Steam's future being shaky. All comes down to business and money, including metadata selling, glossed over as 'free/sale/easy quick updates' etc. Linux has always been about freedom, privacy, choice, no drm, foss. He most likely wants to expand the drm/closed client/metadata-mining further across Linux, so his business/income continues, regarding games anyway.
Gabe Newell is in the first place a bussiness man. Ignoring the fact what MS is doing/trying with their own Windows Games Store would show that he is a bad one.
He has to eat, drink and is responsible for all his employers and their families.
I did not oversee the fact that all features in Steam for Linux are always done at last (VR for example) - but they get done.
When selling numbers for Linux games grow, we will get more attention, become more important in the games industry and of cource Steam too.
I don't think Valve is pushing "drm/closed client/metadata-mining". Some people here also mentioned that some games have no DRM and can be started without Steam client - this is true.
It's the publishers decision to use Steams DRM not Valve.
Especially big games/publishers WANT DRM to protect their games from piracy and thats why Steam has buildin DRM to be able to make business with these big publishers.
Here is where the most money comes - new AAA titles you can buy for 50 and more Euros.
Last edited by johndoe on 20 August 2017 at 11:59 am UTC
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Edit: While looking up `steamcmd`, I found that even this command line tool requires multilib. Thus Steam is completely out of question for me.You're setting a high bar here, but if your concern is keeping your gaming system clean, how about you download your (DRM-free) steam games in a disposable Linux VM or something? Surely your aversion to multilib is not ideological?
The Humble store indicates clearly which games provide a DRM-free download in addition to a steam key by the way. And you don't need a client to download their stuff. Itch is also a good option for some games.
1 Likes, Who?
For my part I'd rather stop gaming. I switched to Linux for freedom some 24 years ago, and I don't need Valve to bring all that vendor-lock-in and DRM crap to my computer again.
I think this is indeed the best conclusion if freedom and only freedom is _the_ important thing for people that are continuously hinting that Valve, publishers, developer studios etc. are rather a threat than a blessing for the Linux market in its current state.
Sorry, you can't have it all. I don't think that you will see AAA games on github anytime soon.
(Unless of course you have the funds to sponsor a studio from your own resources.. ;) )
PS: Please don't take it personally. I'm simply not just very idealistic about what runs on my machine. I don't care about open or closed source or drm as long as it works. I love Linux, it works best for me, but I like the occasional AAA game as well and I'm happy to play by the rules of Valve and related organizations for that. Next to that, Steam is so convenient, one place for buying and keeping you game library sane. Doing otherwise is just so windows-like where you have to constantly update every software separately ;)
Last edited by jens on 20 August 2017 at 3:24 pm UTC
3 Likes, Who?
Is it possible to get a partition maybe? I do really love GoG's features, privacy options and DRM-Free games.
We are on GoL, a place where Linux gamers stop by for a chat and thrive.
I don't know if that would do any change, 11k + on the votes for galaxy port to Linux.. WTF? :/.
I feel a bit cheated and lied to really...
This vote system promotes the idea that we all on Gog can vote on what features we want the Devs to
focus on. It sounds great ^^. Its also says, in progress, thats great ^^.
So to me, all these at least 2 years its been saying in progress, its been a lye.
And I also hate the fact that, instead of explaining to us whats going on.
They just stay silent and expect us to forget it. Personally I think thats a bit disrespectful.
I think it was Gaben who once said, Internet never forgets... Witcher 3 :D.
So I guess fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.. I think applies here.
And on the second thought, do I really want to support this company anymore?
I feel that 11+k votes should be enough of a motivation to make a linux port, there is no partition needed here..
Ye this was a rant, guess I needed to lift the valve. Had some pressure there.
We are on GoL, a place where Linux gamers stop by for a chat and thrive.
I don't know if that would do any change, 11k + on the votes for galaxy port to Linux.. WTF? :/.
I feel a bit cheated and lied to really...
This vote system promotes the idea that we all on Gog can vote on what features we want the Devs to
focus on. It sounds great ^^. Its also says, in progress, thats great ^^.
So to me, all these at least 2 years its been saying in progress, its been a lye.
And I also hate the fact that, instead of explaining to us whats going on.
They just stay silent and expect us to forget it. Personally I think thats a bit disrespectful.
I think it was Gaben who once said, Internet never forgets... Witcher 3 :D.
So I guess fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.. I think applies here.
And on the second thought, do I really want to support this company anymore?
I feel that 11+k votes should be enough of a motivation to make a linux port, there is no partition needed here..
Ye this was a rant, guess I needed to lift the valve. Had some pressure there.
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TheRiddick Aug 20, 2017
Listen kids, for ages now there has been a top thread in their feature/support forum, that thread is LINUX GOG Galaxy, the demand for a Linux version is VERY HIGH. However the developer is 100% ignoring it, ignoring their user base and future possible customers on top. Like I said they are HOSTILE towards Linux, don't know when that will change.
No need to start petitions or some other crazy thing, it won't change a damn thing!
No need to start petitions or some other crazy thing, it won't change a damn thing!
1 Likes, Who?
Listen kids, for ages now there has been a top thread in their feature/support forum, that thread is LINUX GOG Galaxy, the demand for a Linux version is VERY HIGH. However the developer is 100% ignoring it, ignoring their user base and future possible customers on top. Like I said they are HOSTILE towards Linux, don't know when that will change.
No need to start petitions or some other crazy thing, it won't change a damn thing!
I don't see signs of them being hostile towards Linux. How exactly do you see them being hostile towards Linux?
This is what I see. They sell and give away games for the Linux OS. They have support for the users of Linux - if they have issues with the games they purchased for their OS.
If you don't like how they do things, just don't support them. Saying things that are not 100% true is not the move, especially coming from the Linux community.
Personally, I have no evidence of this - just a gut feeling, I think they bit off more than they can chew with GOG Galaxy at least with the way it's been implemented. There is probably a lot of resources going towards it to keep it competitive on the other OSes, it's probably not cheap and it's probably a drain on their resources. Maybe they wish they could go back and do something more along the lines of itch.io. Let ppl download and install/update their games and browse their store from the app and keep it at that. MP support and chat with friends is a lot more difficult than one would imagine (unless you're in that field). Even more so to maintain as things change.
Save these harsh words and such til a company is really out of line with how they treat Linux - like if they say something untrue about the Linux OS or actively misinform the public about what the OS can and can not do or those that make moves in the legal arena to make it harder for Linux to thrive.
I voted for the app for others but I'm not going to be using it when and if it comes out. Lutris and itch.io serve my needs well. I like how their shelf download library works.
I've got 11 games on STEAM, 50 on GOG, over 400+ directly from developers/mixed retail boxes, over 61 on HB, 9 on itch.io, 3 on GameJolt, 2 from Desura (living in the land of eternal backups now) that all work on Linux and that I paid for (I have ton more from freeware and such) - There is room for what we want and how we want and a bunch of places to get it.
If you (or anyone) really want GOG Galaxy on Linux, keep asking them what's up? How can you help (if you want to)? See if they need beta/alpha testers? Check in with the devs that do support Linux on their platform that can benefit from using Galaxy on Linux - See if they are interested in helping out to make it happen.
If you're not interested in none of that, keep it moving. Voice yourself in consideration of others but keep the harsh words for the real fight.
Last edited by Mezron on 20 August 2017 at 11:28 pm UTC
3 Likes, Who?
Personally, I have no evidence of this - just a gut feeling, I think they bit off more than they can chew with GOG Galaxy at least with the way it's been implemented.
That's my feeling too.
1 Likes, Who?
BTW GOG.com is now selling these "Pinata" things, where you get a random game. I bought 4 Pinatas and guess what: all games are Windows-only. Such a fail. Somehow did not expect that.I wrote a message to their support asking for a platform dependent selection of pinata games. At first they told me to get a refund but after being persistent they promised me to forward my mail to their development team. Lets see...
2 Likes, Who?
If you don't like how they do things, just don't support them.
Actually this is not sufficient. As a small market, if we want it to be visible, we need to be vocal. Let me be perfectly clear: we are a very small market whose share does not grow much. So it makes sense to ignore us. GOG ignored Linux for a long time. Then there was the time when we all thought Linux was the next big gaming platform. So GOG started to support Linux, CRPR ported a game. But now that we all see that the numbers do not grow much, they start again to ignore us.
Galaxy is the tool GOG needs to compete with Steam. Gaming is not just about the game but also all that makes a great gaming experience: achievements, cloud storing, friends, multiplayer, community content and discussions. GOG understood that. Galaxy is not optional. More and more games will require it because it is the way to go. I won't say that GOG is hostile to us, but the fact is they are ignoring us and lied to us. Claiming the opposite is denying reality.
The money that goes to Steam, Feral store and others Linux supporters has very high chances to be used improve Linux gaming. But the money that goes to GOG will certainly be used, appart from support, to Galaxy, which we are locked out.
Note that I don't blame GOG. They took a business decision. We must take a custumer one.
3 Likes, Who?
BTW GOG.com is now selling these "Pinata" things, where you get a random game. I bought 4 Pinatas and guess what: all games are Windows-only. Such a fail. Somehow did not expect that.I wrote a message to their support asking for a platform dependent selection of pinata games. At first they told me to get a refund but after being persistent they promised me to forward my mail to their development team. Lets see...
I also complained about that to them on Twitter. The promotion for me is completely useless.
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BTW GOG.com is now selling these "Pinata" things, where you get a random game. I bought 4 Pinatas and guess what: all games are Windows-only. Such a fail. Somehow did not expect that.I wrote a message to their support asking for a platform dependent selection of pinata games. At first they told me to get a refund but after being persistent they promised me to forward my mail to their development team. Lets see...
I also complained about that to them on Twitter. The promotion for me is completely useless.
Asked them as well about this. And if I was guaranteed a linux port in the pinata.
Sadly it was no guarantee, I could refund it if I got a windows title basically.
And there is also an even greater risk for us linux users to buy a pinata.
Last edited by Zelox on 21 August 2017 at 5:15 pm UTC
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ZekThePenguin Aug 21, 2017
I'm not sure what to think about GOG lately. I like that they have a separate Linux section now, rather than just showing the Tux icon on some games. However, bringing Galaxy to Linux would be huge for me, especially with the features they are touting!
There was a time when I would 'vote with my wallet' by not buying games from GOG until they change their perception, but I have come to realize that companies pay more attention to where their money is coming FROM rather than where it isn't. Voting with one's wallet has more to do with what you buy than what you don't! To that end, I will be buying more Linux games on GOG to show them that there is indeed a market for drm-free Linux games.
Steam has been great in its support of Linux, however, their online-required drm-filled offerings do not interest me as much as GOG's offerings. Not only are they drm-free, but often GOG offers a bunch of extras with games too. Steam has expansions and soundtracks, but no wallpapers and interviews at no cost.
There was a time when I would 'vote with my wallet' by not buying games from GOG until they change their perception, but I have come to realize that companies pay more attention to where their money is coming FROM rather than where it isn't. Voting with one's wallet has more to do with what you buy than what you don't! To that end, I will be buying more Linux games on GOG to show them that there is indeed a market for drm-free Linux games.
Steam has been great in its support of Linux, however, their online-required drm-filled offerings do not interest me as much as GOG's offerings. Not only are they drm-free, but often GOG offers a bunch of extras with games too. Steam has expansions and soundtracks, but no wallpapers and interviews at no cost.
2 Likes, Who?
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