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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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Like I said they are HOSTILE towards Linux, don't know when that will change.
This "If you are not my friend, then you are my enemy" attitude usually serves no one. Why is it so difficult to just accept and respect that different people value different things in life? Really, this is no declaration of war from them. They just decided (most likely after a lot and long of internal discussion as it happens with strategic decisions in companies) that their business is elsewhere. That's all.
Last edited by jens on 21 August 2017 at 7:31 pm UTC
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Like I said they are HOSTILE towards Linux, don't know when that will change.
This "If you are not my friend, then you are my enemy" attitude usually serves no one. Why is it so difficult to just accept and respect that different people value different things in life? Really, this is no declaration of war from them. They just decided (most likely after a lot and long of internal discussion as it happens with strategic decisions in companies) that their business is elsewhere. That's all.
Why it's so difficult to understand:
They lie:
*Galaxy is coming soon (soon is subjective but if there's no work, no plans no roadmap then it's a lie)
*Galaxy is in progress (it was in progress for years yet they didn't do anything)
*Witcher 3 - coming soon banner on Steam *twice. (Sure it was valve, but it someone tells a lie involving me and my customers, i'm not going to stay silent, especially if they do it again)
I consider lying to your customers hostile (maybe it wasn't always a lie, maybe an exageration, but at one point it became a lie and they ignored the questions and mantained silence, at the very least they could have removed the "soon" and "in progress")
Valve may not care at all about Linux, it might be their plan b, they're a business and they want to make money. Also Linux is not their priority. But GOG is a business too they're not heroes, DRM FREE is not an ideology, it's their motto, their niche. if they were driven by ideals Linux would be special for them, their customers would be their friends and they would be very open and communicative with them.
tl;dr GOG is not a crusader and Valve is not the devil, both are businesses
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tl;dr GOG is not a crusader and Valve is not the devil, both are businesses
Exactly ;)
I agree (based on what I read here, haven't followed myself) their communication could have been better. But being "hostile" is something entirely different.
Last edited by jens on 21 August 2017 at 9:18 pm UTC
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tl;dr GOG is not a crusader and Valve is not the devil, both are businesses
Exactly ;)
I agree (based on what I read here, haven't followed myself) their communication could have been better. But being "hostile" is something entirely different.
Yes it's true hostile could sound too harsh, a better word could be used, i would have chosen disrespectful (lying and ignoring the questions after it was obvious that neither Galaxy or Witcher 3 were being worked) certainly is.
And while not hostile i wouldn't say they are friendly either:
yes they sell Linux games and it's not keys so they have to host the files and modify their website (but if they didn't do that they would be selling a less complete game than other stores)
They offer Linux versions of DosBox and ScummVM games, again just a installer and data files would be enough here.
The only thing that i recognize that they've done for Linux was when they compiled AGS and made Linux available when the developer didn't. (That truly was something great they did for Linux and i don't recall anyone mentioning it in these threads) but it was a few games and then it stopped.
Plus Galaxy and Witcher 3 (no explanation needed)
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appetrosyan Aug 22, 2017
Well , it was a very well known truth.
Thus , i won't buy a single title from GOG.
I don't want to be hostile to GOG but i don't care a platform which don't care a bit about Linux.
They don't have it as a priority because of CDPR's recent backlash for TW2's performance. They don't care about linux, because Linux had a chance to care about them and blew it.
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They don't have it as a priority because of CDPR's recent backlash for TW2's performance. They don't care about linux, because Linux had a chance to care about them and blew it.
Let's drop this "TW2 performance" topic already. It has nothing to do with anything that's going on today.
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...why is it that everytime i read comments here, feels like you guys are saying that GOG cancelled making a Linux version despite the fact that it is stated that it's "not a priority".
In fact IMO, deciding not to buy any game from em is pretty much the worst idea you can possible make in this current situation.
In fact IMO, deciding not to buy any game from em is pretty much the worst idea you can possible make in this current situation.
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...why is it that everytime i read comments here, feels like you guys are saying that GOG cancelled making a Linux version despite the fact that it is stated that it's "not a priority"."Not a priority" practically means it's in limbo indefinitely, which is about as good as cancelled until they come up with a schedule that specifies when it's due to come out.
In fact IMO, deciding not to buy any game from em is pretty much the worst idea you can possible make in this current situation.
And regarding buying games from them, why should we? Some of us are really not interested in the hassle that comes with buying games without access to a client that handles updates for them and I for one am not going to keep buying games from them to "encourage" them to port the client over. That's almost like buying Windows copies of games to run in Wine to show that Linux users have an interest in them, ultimately my answer as GOG would be "Oh, they don't care that we don't have the client for them? Well, that means we can drop it down on the priorities even further!".
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...why is it that everytime i read comments here, feels like you guys are saying that GOG cancelled making a Linux version despite the fact that it is stated that it's "not a priority".
In fact IMO, deciding not to buy any game from em is pretty much the worst idea you can possible make in this current situation.
After some years we will have to stop thinking of this as delayed. How many more years you want us to wait before it is released? 5, 10, 15? On this day and age those who can't make something on a reasonable speed will be left behind. Even more the competition has already stepped up to the task long ago.
As it is right now, GOG has an inferior product and the only advantage they have is the DRM Free approach and that for lots of people is secondary in comparison to the usability of a client.
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After some years we will have to stop thinking of this as delayed. How many more years you want us to wait before it is released? 5, 10, 15? On this day and age those who can't make something on a reasonable speed will be left behind. Even more the competition has already stepped up to the task long ago.
As it is right now, GOG has an inferior product and the only advantage they have is the DRM Free approach and that for lots of people is secondary in comparison to the usability of a client.
The main reason I could think of is that GOG is still a smaller store. I mean you have to live in Warsaw in order to work there, afaik there's like 2 ppl who use Linux (Judas i believe is one of em) and they are still looking for workers.
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elbuglione Aug 23, 2017
Well , it was a very well known truth.
Thus , i won't buy a single title from GOG.
I don't want to be hostile to GOG but i don't care a platform which don't care a bit about Linux.
They don't have it as a priority because of CDPR's recent backlash for TW2's performance. They don't care about linux, because Linux had a chance to care about them and blew it.
are we living in 2014?
a long waey has been from there... at this time, Linux Support for GOG Galaxy must have more "priority" than Mac...
honestly i prefeer Ubisoft and EA... at least they are honest with they customers.
Ubisoft/EA says: "hey! we are a shitty company with crap game client and pathetic pollicies"
But, at least, they DON'T LIE
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Well, I'll just skip a game on GOG when it seems to be dependent on Galaxy. We still have Steam and Humble and while the absence of DRM is welcome, it is not a necessity for me.
honestly i prefeer Ubisoft and EA... at least they are honest with they customers.
Ubisoft/EA says: "hey! we are a shitty company with crap game client and pathetic pollicies"
But, at least, they DON'T LIE
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Another Steam-like client is the last thing I want. GOG just needs to improve their service by adding email notifications when a game is updated or you get an answer in the forum… And also RSS feeds for new Linux game releases and promotions.
Agreed. Itch.io does a great job as a client and with the updates via email of Linux games from the devs you follow.
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Sir_Diealot Aug 26, 2017
I'm sort of in two minds about Galaxy. Actually, I don't want it. For the most part lgogdownloader does what I want. It allows me to comfortably download all my games so I have them backed up locally.
On the other hand I want some of the newer titles that depend on galaxy.
So the problem here is that those games depend on Galaxy. Why do they depend on Galaxy? Because they depend on Steam for multiplayer (and some other stuff). Example: "Tooth and Tail". One of the developers said on their discord server that they did the multiplayer part themselves in an early version. That included LAN functionality. They didn't want to maintain that so they switched to steam for all the network stuff. So there is no more LAN and this multiplayer-focused game depends entirely on steam. The only way for GOG to sell it is if they have something that allows them to connect to the steam services. That something is Galaxy. Galaxy is not available for Linux so we have no "Tooth and Tail" for Linux on GOG.
I don't want Galaxy. I want developers to stop depending on Steam.
On the other hand I want some of the newer titles that depend on galaxy.
So the problem here is that those games depend on Galaxy. Why do they depend on Galaxy? Because they depend on Steam for multiplayer (and some other stuff). Example: "Tooth and Tail". One of the developers said on their discord server that they did the multiplayer part themselves in an early version. That included LAN functionality. They didn't want to maintain that so they switched to steam for all the network stuff. So there is no more LAN and this multiplayer-focused game depends entirely on steam. The only way for GOG to sell it is if they have something that allows them to connect to the steam services. That something is Galaxy. Galaxy is not available for Linux so we have no "Tooth and Tail" for Linux on GOG.
I don't want Galaxy. I want developers to stop depending on Steam.
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Sir_Diealot Aug 26, 2017
I don't want Galaxy. I want developers to stop depending on Steam.Having games depend on Galaxy instead is not a solution :-/.
Obviously not, I was not suggesting that. Just don't have the game depend on any third party service. Sure, network stuff is not trivial, but it worked for thousands of games before Steam even existed.
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While I am all for games on Linux, I think I am a little more realistic in my expectations. Honestly, I doubt they will ever release a GoG Linux client.
Lets start the discussion with Steam. I believe the main reason Steam supports Linux is that Valve was developing SteamOS and Steam Boxes. They felt they could break into the gaming/console market and make a large impact. For good or ill, those products were a commercial failure. However, it did bring Linux support to Steam. I dont believe Valve would have made a Linux client, if it wasnt for this venture. Regardless of your personal feelings on the matter, Linux is simply not a popular desktop operating system. Depending on where you get your statistics the percentage varies, but its safe to say Linux makes up less than 2% of desktop users. In addition to that, Linux users on Steam make up a miniscule .41% (yes, less than 1/2 of a percent) of operating systems as of January, 2018. With a practically nonexistent percentage of users, sales of Linux based games was very low - and have been dropping every year. Obviously, developers were enticed by the possibility of Steam Boxes making a big splash in the market and ported games to Linux. With the failure of Steam Boxes and SteamOS, there is no cost benefit in porting games to Linux. Another thing to point out, technically Steam for Linux is only supported on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and newer with the Unity, Gnome, or KDE desktop. There is simply no way to support the hundreds of Linux distributions. They simply had to pick the most popular distro out of necessity. While I dont foresee it happening, I do not find it out of the realm of possibility that one day Valve may drop support for Linux. I doubt the cost of maintaining the client has to cost more than the money it brings in.
GoG doesnt have a fraction of the resources Valve has. Investing in development and maintaining a Linux client is no small task. Few developers are making Linux games or are willing to port popular games to Linux. Couple that with the lack of actual Linux users, with only a fraction of those users who actually play games, it simply just doesnt make financial sense to make a Linux client.
While my main gaming machine is Windows, all my TVs are connected to PCs or laptops running Linux. I am quite content using Steam In-Home Streaming to play games from my couch or bed. This gives me the luxury of playing a title for any OS anywhere in my home, if they are not locally installed on the Linux box.
Lets start the discussion with Steam. I believe the main reason Steam supports Linux is that Valve was developing SteamOS and Steam Boxes. They felt they could break into the gaming/console market and make a large impact. For good or ill, those products were a commercial failure. However, it did bring Linux support to Steam. I dont believe Valve would have made a Linux client, if it wasnt for this venture. Regardless of your personal feelings on the matter, Linux is simply not a popular desktop operating system. Depending on where you get your statistics the percentage varies, but its safe to say Linux makes up less than 2% of desktop users. In addition to that, Linux users on Steam make up a miniscule .41% (yes, less than 1/2 of a percent) of operating systems as of January, 2018. With a practically nonexistent percentage of users, sales of Linux based games was very low - and have been dropping every year. Obviously, developers were enticed by the possibility of Steam Boxes making a big splash in the market and ported games to Linux. With the failure of Steam Boxes and SteamOS, there is no cost benefit in porting games to Linux. Another thing to point out, technically Steam for Linux is only supported on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and newer with the Unity, Gnome, or KDE desktop. There is simply no way to support the hundreds of Linux distributions. They simply had to pick the most popular distro out of necessity. While I dont foresee it happening, I do not find it out of the realm of possibility that one day Valve may drop support for Linux. I doubt the cost of maintaining the client has to cost more than the money it brings in.
GoG doesnt have a fraction of the resources Valve has. Investing in development and maintaining a Linux client is no small task. Few developers are making Linux games or are willing to port popular games to Linux. Couple that with the lack of actual Linux users, with only a fraction of those users who actually play games, it simply just doesnt make financial sense to make a Linux client.
While my main gaming machine is Windows, all my TVs are connected to PCs or laptops running Linux. I am quite content using Steam In-Home Streaming to play games from my couch or bed. This gives me the luxury of playing a title for any OS anywhere in my home, if they are not locally installed on the Linux box.
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I would link to stuff directly, but it appears their links to specific posts don't actually do anything.
Actually, it kind of does. It takes you to the correct page, so you'll at least have a chance to find the post being mentioned. But yeah, it doesn't actually go to the correct post.
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