GOG are ending their 'Fair Price Package program', soon after letting staff go

I stopped using GOG entirely the moment I realized they aren't going to support linux with Galaxy.
Won't even buy Windows games there any more, because what's the point, really? In all likelyhood, I'd just be able to play it via Steam Play on linux anyway, so to Steam it goes.


Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 27 February 2019 at 7:46 am UTC

Quoting: Phlebiac

Quoting: einherjarIt's some kind of "half hearted" Linux support.

For those who weren't around back then:
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/gogcom-dont-plan-on-introducing-linux-support-in-the-foreseeable-future-updated.2369/

Thanks, I wasn't around then and it's an interesting read.

GOG have been supporting Linux as was discussed back then for years, yet people keep whining.

I wish people were more honest. Like most Windows users won't ever use anything else most Steam users won't use anything else either. It's change, it's inconvenient and people don't like that. I understand, just cut the excuses, please.

Like I said it before ...
-> https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/gog-are-doing-a-black-friday-sale-with-some-good-linux-games-cheap.13033/comment_id=141499

QuoteNo Galaxy-Client = No GOG-buys!

Quoting: Sir_DiealotGOG have been supporting Linux as was discussed back then for years, yet people keep whining.

I wish people were more honest. Like most Windows users won't ever use anything else most Steam users won't use anything else either. It's change, it's inconvenient and people don't like that. I understand, just cut the excuses, please.

There's no excuses, just plain facts. I think all the people that commented here liked GOG but it hard to support a store when objectively they don't care that much about you.

The excuses are that GOG is too small to have the ressources of port Galaxy on Linux. Sure GOG is much smaller than Steam but it is bigger than Itch whose client works nicely on Linux. GOG have money or ar least they had. Like any company they prioritize where to invest it. Feature parity for Linux customer is just very low on their priority list. Even if they had ten times the money they have now they would most probably use it to gain market shares on Windows or Mac. I think they put their efforts into bringing big developers to GOG. Through the years many big publisher have joined. This is surely a better move for the business than suppprting such a small niche as we are.

So GOG support for Linux is minimal. Many people here said they do not buy on GOG anymore. So this cannot be fear of change but just going towards he ones supporting Linux

GOG’s installers are much better than what Humble puts out, where it’s just a zip file with even no icon. That said, it’s still completely incomprehensible for someone coming from Windows that they then need to enable the 32-bit architecture and install a bunch of libs in the terminal before the game they just installed can work.

When I have a game on Steam, I miss having an installer I can just copy places and install on various computers without installing a client. When I have a game on GOG I miss automatic updates and just being able to click to install something without looking for the installer or going to the website to download it. Having the Galaxy client on Linux would give me the best of both worlds and make GOG my preferred platform, but alas.

Quoting: NezchanRegarding GoG's Linux support, I can't recall where I read it (it may have been during a conversation on Mastodon), but I've been told that they only have one person in charge of Linux updates, and they don't tend to respond to emails promptly. Which is a huge disadvantage for Linux devs since, as was noted on an article here on GoL, updates are sent to them via manual FTP and then manually applied at their end. So not exactly good service on their part.

I covered that here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/putting-games-across-multiple-stores-is-not-easy-as-developers-keep-noting-recently.13421

Quoting: Sir_DiealotLike most Windows users won't ever use anything else most Steam users won't use anything else either.

That's not my experience at all. From what I've seen, people (by which I mean those who are not actively following the gaming market) will do anything and everything to get the game they want to play running. I remember going over to some friends' house who just bought Ubisoft's Tintin game for their kid. Apart from the fact they needed to get a new gfx card for it (to which their reaction was, ok, let's go out and get a new one), there was the whole Uplay client and the always online thing which I thought was pretty atrocious, but they didn't even give any of it a second thought, as long as their kid could play the game.

If people were unwilling to use anything other than Steam, Fortnite wouldn't be the most popular game right now. I see people complaining about the Epic client on gaming forums, but there's vastly more people who just want to play it and they don't care what they need to do for that to happen.

Quoting: TheBardThere's no excuses, just plain facts. I think all the people that commented here liked GOG but it hard to support a store when objectively they don't care that much about you.

Well, we look at all the nice things Windows and even Mac people have and we're pissed off we don't get the same treatment. GOG's point of view is be grateful we're even doing this much for you, with you being so few and, as shown by what happened with W2, you being all c**ts (self-censorship here) anyway.

Valve have all the money in the world for the moment and someone there decided Linux needed supporting for whatever reason and put money into it. GOG's decision was probably externally-motivated. They didn't have anything to do with Linux (and probably still don't) themselves, but heard all the buzz generated by Valve and got all the requests and said, yeah, ok, this is a thing we need to do apparently, so let's try doing something and see what comes out of it. As far as I can tell, nothing has. We hate on them because they haven't given us what they've given others, they still don't care about us because we haven't brought in the money.


Last edited by damarrin on 27 February 2019 at 9:12 am UTC

Quoting: damarrinGOG's point of view is be grateful we're even doing this much for you.[...] We hate on them because they haven't given us what they've given others, they still don't care about us because we haven't brought in the money.

I don't hate GOG. They are a business, they want to grow and Linux is certainly not the best place to invest for that. It respect it. Actually i buy a lot of games on GOG, more than on Steam! So i'm definitely not a hater but there are problems and the excuse that they're not big enough to have Galaxy on Linux is just plain wrong as Itch which is much smaller does very well for a long time. One of the reason i desperately want Galaxy is updating can be a nightmare. Games that have several DLC are a such a pain to update. I have to download the full installer for the base game and one installer per DLC available, then replace the game folder because overwriting does not always work and install each DLC manually! When you consider GOG have games in early access which updates often, then you spend a lot of time updating. In the Steam client, this is just a checkbox per DLC with all activated by default and automatic updates. This so much more convenient!

Not to mention i don't have a fast connection so downloading the full installer per update is annoying. In Steam games updates are generally much smaller. And finally there is the multiplayer issue, cloud saves, overlay, social features, etc. I don't blame GOG for treating us like this: they are a business, they make the decisions necessary to grow. But we, as Linux gamers, have to acknowledge that GOG support for Linux is the bare minimal and that it is their deliberate choice to not prioritize it. We can not blame someone for not loving you. The best behavior in that case is moving on.

My guess is GOG always thought their best way to grow is convincing big publishers to come on the store. Bethesda and 2K have recently joined so this is clearly what was to be done. But i fear GOG did not invest as much as it should have to offer developers an easy uploading experience. There's gonna be many big stores now. It becomes harder and harder for developers to upload their games on each "big" store. Providing an effort-less uploading experience is probably going to be a strong point to get love from devs.

Recently i asked the developers of "The Long Dark" to upload on GOG the last version. They answered promptly that they already sent the new version to GOG but it took several weeks (yes i said weeks!) for users to finally see the new version available. When you consider many games left GOG recently (like "The Long Dark" for example), this is not clear if those game are going to be updated. Fortunately this is the case for this game, but it will not be for all.

Like probably many people here i care about DRM, i would love to see GOG support us like first-class citizen and i understand this is not their best move as a private company. Like one person said above, they're just being rational, so must we. This is not hate, this is acknowledging problems and selecting which company we want to support exactly like GOG select which gamers they want to support.

Quoting: hummer010

Quoting: DraconicroseGoG is like third on my list of stores to look at, mostly because of what a PITA it is to download and install games bought there. So Humble and Steam usually get my money.

I'm curious how GOG is any more of a PITA than Humble? Both pretty simple: go to website, log in, download.

If you're using lgogdownloader, it's even easier than Humble.

Usually Humble also gives you a Steam key. ;)