GOG update their stance on DRM-free, Galaxy as 'optional' for single-player

Quoting: Liam Dawe

Quoting: brokkrI can't help feeling point number 1 doesn't do much to clear things up.

Wouldn't the release of Hitman (2016) on GOG be able to tick that box? Single player mode was accessible offline. Just not all of it. I would have given them more credit for including the word 'fully'. Or even 'fully*' with some allowable *-caveats.

I think that's the point of what they're saying, so stuff like HITMAN would now be allowed on.

I hope not, or else even a "minimal, insignificant" part of the game could be played offline in single player.

"2. Games you bought and downloaded can never be taken from you or altered against your will."

Fine print here, "bought AND DOWNLOADED", so bought but not downloaded can be taken away, understood.

I'm disappointed on GOG since they decided not to give us a Linux client.

Now, I'm everyday less confident in the service "as promoted", because they didn't give us any real method to easily back-up our entirely library, so we don't have to worry to loose anything on a policy change.

REALLY OWNING OUR GAMES was the appeal of this platform, from the beginning. That was the difference from other platforms, were we all know we are just "renting" the games, because if those go offline, there goes our games. I remember the first GOG client, a simple downloader, that was simple enough to have an option to DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE LIBRARY WITH A CLICK. (yes, there is community scripts out there, but I think GOG had to make this official)

Without that, GOG is no different, and actually, for me at least, nowadays is really inferior to Steam. (yeah, Steam is no so much better legally speaking, sure, but I'm more confident in their reliability just because is a behemoth that seems unlikely to do down any time soon)

Honestly even the people that have a problem with their DRM stance on Hitman I feel like they're intentionally misunderstanding GOG's stance so they have something to be angry about. Well, not everyone, I'm sure there are plenty of people that honestly felt mislead and lied to; In this day and age people love to get worked up though, even if they never misunderstood in the first place. Maybe I've always had a different understanding of their DRM policies (which happens to coincide with GOG's perspective), who knows.

To me DRM, and DRM-free, refers to the store and the installers, essentially. Do you have to download the gog installer from gog for it to work? Can you copy it, does it call in (TO GOG), etc and soforth? I think they assumed people were on the same page that they weren't restricting you by their DRM free claims. You know, like how Steam games do (well, optionally, not all steam games do) or you know, Securom. I do understand people taking it quite literally that DRM-free should mean any form of rights management at any level in the game, which honestly, I agree with too. It probably should mean that.

Clarifying their stance like they are is probably the best choice, because they're not wrong, GOG has to continue to do business and new games tend to blur the lines like that. They've stated before that the well is running dry on old games, and why that was. Hopefully they take the approach to never add games like the most recent hitman again, or free to play, that kind of stuff, and just sidestep most of the problem that way. It could be wishful thinking.

While it may not fulfill our libre fantasies, I think this is a sensible move. It's more important, I think, that GOG flourishes because, if their financials are any indication, they're at risk of disappearing forever. While we'll always have itch for DRM-free small or indie games, GOG selling AAA games like Horizon Zero Dawn is, I think, a direct result of CDPR's market power from games like Cyberpunk 2077. I find it unlikely that itch (or anyone else) will be able to make the inroads that CDPR has made, and they need to do everything they can to maintain & defend their position.

I feel like GOG just can't please everyone, especially the die-hard 'old guard' of DRM-free proponents. Famously vocal on the forums.

I would cut GOG some slack, they're already posting losses or minimal profits. I don't mind if there's a small whiff of something resembling DRM on one or two games, as it's still optional to my understanding. And if it's not then don't throw the baby out with the bath water - GOG is still the best we got at DRM-free games and their selection.

Despite no Linux client (which bothers me less everyday due to alternatives), I like them. They try. I'll keep buying from them, screw it.

Quoting: dibzHonestly even the people that have a problem with their DRM stance on Hitman I feel like they're intentionally misunderstanding GOG's stance so they have something to be angry about. (snip)

To me DRM, and DRM-free, refers to the store and the installers, essentially. Do you have to download the gog installer from gog for it to work? Can you copy it, does it call in (TO GOG), etc and soforth? I think they assumed people were on the same page that they weren't restricting you by their DRM free claims. You know, like how Steam games do (well, optionally, not all steam games do) or you know, Securom.

Just to be clear, I'm not all that bothered by GOG's shift of position here. I get that they're in financial trouble, and I get that the definitions have gotten slippery, and I get that modern multi-player games are often sort of DRM-as-basic-design.

But I think you're wrong here. I'm pretty sure that what you describe is not what GOG's position has historically been. Rather, I think it's pretty definite that they have always pledged not to sell you games with DRM on them, even DRM that the publisher rather than GOG put there. And so I think people who understand that to have been their stance are correct, and you are actually misunderstanding.

Mind you, that would have been a perfectly defensible position for GOG to have been taking, but it wouldn't have been that much of a selling point (doesn't really differentiate them from Steam all that clearly; yeah, there's some difference, but not really much of one--you can play Steam games offline, copy them to other computers and so on) and anyway, for whatever reasons, I'm pretty sure that is not in fact what they've been saying. They were actually taking the stronger position originally, not the weaker one you're talking about.

Quoting: pbThat was not what their customers were expecting

One customer begs to differ.

I basically bought all the "good" old games when they were brand new, and the only reason to perhaps buy them a second time on GOG would be to avoid the hassle of having to dig out the disks, CDs, DVDs, manuals, code wheels and what not. But why bother if there are still good new games coming out every now and then!?

So yeah, GOG as they once were would have been next to useless to me. If they don't turn a profit by selling new stuff that's really a shame, because I'd rather continue buying from them.

Quoting: pb

Quoting: M@GOidIf they want to survive, they had to bend over for the publishers demands or not have a game to sell.

I don't think they have much in the way of surviving. Might be too late for that, I'm afraid. Let me tell you a story.

Some thirty years ago, a person who shall remain unnamed, opened a second-hand clothes shop. It was a low-budget enterprise that gave modest returns. It had many happy customers and the money was flowing. But she wanted more so she took the money and opened a bigger shop in a better (and more expensive) location to sell *new* clothes. Invested pretty much everything in the new shop and the first batch of new merchandise and... that was the beginning of the end. Operating costs went way up while the turnover went way down. The customers didn't come to the shop as there were many other similar (and arguably better) shops. The "old" customers were coming to buy second-hand clothes so they saw no point in coming to the new shop, they were only interested in what the old shop had to offer. Long story short, the business went belly-up after a few hard months.

This is not a made-up story and yet it's a perfect analogy to what gog has done. They had a good business packaging and selling good-old-games, but they thought they could "do better" and invested lots of money to become a "new games" shop. But they never stood a chance. That was not what their customers were expecting, and new customers were hard to draw in. Had they remained in their niche, their business would be small but steady. Low operating costs and modest returns. Right now, they will just keep posting losses until the board decides to close it all down. Tough luck. Maybe there is a way back, maybe there isn't. Probably the latter.

Reminds me of a bagel shop in my town. Extremely popular, extremely successful, always a line of people at the counter waiting to place an order, but nobody complained because the bagels were that good. Then the owner tried to expand into providing bagels to the local colleges but couldn't meet the contractual obligations, so he closed the shop to throw everything he could at the colleges but still couldn't fulfill his obligations, couldn't afford to hire more staff or equipment, and was forced to declare bankruptcy.

Companies that lose sight of their original focus tend to not last long.

I wonder if No Man's Sky ever got Multiplayer and if so, can those players see Steam players? It was a HUGE issue with the game on GOG. Essentially you got a downgraded version of NMS on GOG with no Multiplayer...... for same or more price....

If I had to use their game client, why would I buy games from GoG? I would just buy it on Steam, which is at least a good store platform and provides good services to users.

It seems GoG has been trying to have their cake and eat it too, so to speak. There's content I don't get for Cyberpunk2077 because I don't use the Galaxy client, but it's nothing I care about. It was disappointing in the sense that it felt like the beginning of the end, though.

I like GoG because I can just set up a game in Lutris and play it hassle free, irrespective of internet connectivity. I started buying as many games as possible from GoG, because I found myself with few games I could play one night while my cable was out. I only play single player games, I don't like multiplayer. Specifically I don't like being obligated to anyone else in any way, with gaming.