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.
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The comments on this article are closed.
Quoting: TheRiddickCDPR GOG still upset with Linux user base I see. They NEVER did recover from those Witcher2 threats certain extremists made...
If they really judge a whole community and the Steam Deck customers by the misbehavior of a few toxic people, that would be really weird, wouldn't it?
So I think that is more like a pure business decision mixed with rudeness (...just install Windows)
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AussieEevee Feb 22, 2022
Quoting: pleasereadthemanualTechnically, GOG is completely correct. Their native Linux builds don't officially support Arch Linux or the new SteamOS, which is a derivative of that distribution. They support Ubuntu. They can't guarantee support for an OS they've never tested their games for.Is there really enough of a difference between an Arch derivative and an ubuntu one to worry about? I mean, obviously their client isn't going to need the package manager.
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pleasereadthemanual Feb 22, 2022
Quoting: AussieEeveeYes, the builds will probably work, but without testing it, there's no way to tell for sure. If they guarantee it works and it doesn't, they'll get backlash, too. Never guarantee things you can't know for sure.Quoting: pleasereadthemanualTechnically, GOG is completely correct. Their native Linux builds don't officially support Arch Linux or the new SteamOS, which is a derivative of that distribution. They support Ubuntu. They can't guarantee support for an OS they've never tested their games for.Is there really enough of a difference between an Arch derivative and an ubuntu one to worry about? I mean, obviously their client isn't going to need the package manager.
As for the differences, core library versions are different for one. If you look at the games on the GOG store, you'll see them tested against specific versions of Ubuntu (12.04 or higher), but Arch doesn't have any versions. They'd have to say something like "glibc 2.34 or newer".
I'm afraid I don't know much more about the innards of these GNU/Linux distributions than that. Older builds of games have been known to stop working after some time, for reasons I'm not entirely sure about. Something about newer glibc versions deprecating older features, maybe (the kernel famously doesn't break userspace; it's the userspace software like glibc that causes breakage). I don't think they do that as much anymore.
For the record, I haven't had any issue with the Linux builds on my Arch laptop.
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Quoting: Breizh
quoting this because it's too good to only see twice in this thread. Agree with the general sentiment of most of y'all above me.
Water still wet, bachelors still single, and GOG still totally indifferent to us.
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officernice Feb 22, 2022
Surprise, surprise. The company that does not give two shits about Linux won't support Steam Deck.
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Literally the only reason I would buy games from GOG is if they weren't available elsewhere, which is the case with some older games.
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TheRiddick Feb 22, 2022
Ironically more and more games require GOGG2.0 for multiplayer DRM. So DRM-free; most stuff, not all.
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Quoting: FrawoJust as planned.Quoting: Alm888So, yes, GOG is correct, one will be able to play GOG's amazing library on Steam Deck. Even if the solution is not for said one's taste.Of course you will be able to play your GOG Games on Steam Deck (who had a doubt about that anyway)... if you don't mind fiddling around in Desktop Mode on a tiny screen, with no regular mouse, no dynamic cloud sync, limited controller support (unless you add your games to Steam). No thanks, that's not the OOTB experience I'm looking for.
1. A user goes through a process of installing Windows on Deck (driver issues?).
2. The user goes through a process of running GOG games on Deck (DOSBox + Deck's gamepads?).
3. The user records this convoluted mess and releases a YouTube video, stating Steam Deck is unusable.
4. ???????
5. PROFIT!!
Quoting: FrawoIf GOG wants to profit from the Steam Deck, I would expect them to offer at least some basic integration tools. Installing GOG in its current state on the Steam Deck is like buying a Ferrari and installing a two-stroke engine in it.GOG does not want to profit from Steam Deck. It wants to topple it. At the very least, a Steam Deck is another platform, adding a headache to GOG's "tech support" (imagine what troubles will arise when the support will be flooded with numerous "Deck+Windows" GOG users' support requests due to issues with controllers for DOSBox-wrapped games). And at the worst case scenario, Steam Deck will divert users from GOG towards Steam. So, the quicker Steam Deck flops the better (for GOG).
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Quoting: GuestQuoting: pleasereadthemanualTechnically, GOG is completely correct. Their native Linux builds don't officially support Arch Linux or the new SteamOS, which is a derivative of that distribution. They support Ubuntu. They can't guarantee support for an OS they've never tested their games for.I would agree with you, but I think they are making assumption here too, I bet they didn't test any GOG game on the Steam Deck. So they cannot guarantee something which they have not tested imho.
Whether this PR spokesperson understands this or not, I couldn't say. Clearly the diplomatic response would have been, "these games have been tested for Ubuntu officially, but they may work on the Steam Deck. We don't know; we haven't tried it."
At the bare minimum the proper response here would be, "we tested this X numbers of GOG games and they work". "On this other ones the joystick is not detected or has X trouble".
I mean there's a couple of Linux games builds flagged as unsupported on the Steam deck too. They really expect that all of their windows GOG games to work on Steam Deck?
In that case, if in the future they get lots of refunds from Steam Deck users, it will be well deserved.
But anyway, I think that this was not a "techinical" response and they are not "guaranteeing" anything here this is just a PR bot response.
Their games don't support the Steam Deck's distro, but installing Ubuntu on the deck should still be easier than installing Windows.
They went straight for the nuclear option, that they can't even guarantee will work either.
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slaapliedje Feb 22, 2022
Quoting: kuhpunktWhat an embarrassing reply by them. Aren't they even aware of Lutris etc? Like how detached can they be?It seriously seems like they have one or two people working for them that package installers for Linux. They probably work out of some sub-basement area and have red staplers, and actually are just forgotten that they still get a paycheck...
But yeah, for them to just say 'just install windows and you can play' is kind of an ignorant response.
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