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Don't expect GOG to support the Steam Deck

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With the Steam Deck only a few days away from release, it seems people are wondering the support status of other stores. Seems GOG won't be supporting it, which isn't surprising.

Currently, GOG does support Linux with direct downloads, although they only officially support a few versions of Ubuntu. They do not, however, support GOG Galaxy on Linux. This has been a bit of a problem, as some games with multiplayer rely on Galaxy meaning a few Linux builds on GOG came without multiplayer.

Speaking on Twitter, in reply to a YouTuber asking if they will support the Steam Deck they replied:

There's no official GOG support for SteamDeck. But since the device has an open architecture, as we understand, you can install Windows and as such also run GOG games.

They never replied to our email enquiring about it.

Technically, you won't need to do that. GOG Galaxy can run in Wine, although unsupported. On top of that, projects like Minigalaxy exist, Lutris has GOG download support, Bottles has a GOG installer and even Heroic Games Launcher is working on Linux support that's close to release - so there's options available on SteamOS 3 with the Steam Deck to get GOG games. However, Galaxy features are generally locked to their own app.

One reason that's likely GOG aren't working to expand their Linux support to Galaxy and Steam Deck, is that they aren't exactly doing well financially.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Steam Deck, GOG, Misc
26 Likes
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly.
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Eike Feb 21, 2022
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QuoteThere's no official GOG support for SteamDeck. But since the device has an open architecture, as we understand, you can install Windows and as such also run GOG games.

... or run your native Linux games from GOG on it?!?
Liam Dawe Feb 21, 2022
Quoting: Eike
QuoteThere's no official GOG support for SteamDeck. But since the device has an open architecture, as we understand, you can install Windows and as such also run GOG games.

... or run your native Linux games from GOG on it?!?
Yeah, we did point out they seem to have forgotten that they do stock Linux games.
martinligabue Feb 21, 2022
also bottles has gog installer afaik
Liam Dawe Feb 21, 2022
Quoting: martinligabuealso bottles has gog installer afaik
Good point, added.
kuhpunkt Feb 21, 2022
What an embarrassing reply by them. Aren't they even aware of Lutris etc? Like how detached can they be?
CFWhitman Feb 21, 2022
If the Steam Deck is successful enough and they survive as a company, then they might start to consider actual Steam Deck support.
Raaben Feb 21, 2022
GOG's stubbornness makes me sad. I'd buy alot more, even most of my games from them, if they gave just half a damn for the Linux library they do carry.
Zlopez Feb 21, 2022
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Quoting: GuestOne thing that came to my mind. If steam OS is the official supported OS, that comes preinstalled, does this means that running Windows, voids your warranty or you just cannot ask for support?, like you are in your own if you do that?

You are free to do anything with your Steam Deck, even installing Windows, but it will probably not run well. Similar handhelds with Windows usually are not that good in performance as Steam Deck.

Quoting: RaabenGOG's stubbornness makes me sad. I'd buy alot more, even most of my games from them, if they gave just half a damn for the Linux library they do carry.

I feel you. I started to buy from them, because I don't like DRM, but most of the games just doesn't work as well as on Steam. So I ended up buying on Steam when possible and only buying nostalgic games on GOG.

Quoting: GuestI use Fedora and a lot of the games from my GOG library don't run out of the box. Sometimes they run but there's no controller support. So I just end up adding them and running them through Steam anyways. The only appeal they have now is to offer DRM free games.

Same here on Fedora Silverblue.


Last edited by Zlopez on 21 February 2022 at 3:04 pm UTC
kerossin Feb 21, 2022
Was this even a surprise?

GOG doesn't care about Linux and they only care about DRM for marketing purposes.
diabetes Feb 21, 2022
I am rather disappointed by GoG. Not only have they forgotten that they still offer Linux-native games, but also they have swayed away from their "DRM free games" policy by tying multiplayer features in many games to a running instance of GoG Galaxy being logged in to an account owning the game.

This has caused many headaches because the software tends to break from time to time when being run with Lutris or when trying to run the game and GoG Galaxy within different WINEPREFIXes (i.e. due to a compatibility settings/Wine version mismatch between Galaxy and the game), as the processes can't see each other then.
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