GOG attempt to bring customers back with a revival of Good Old Games

The link from the article doesn't work, redirects to https://www.gog.com/en/games
Proper link: https://www.gog.com/en/games?tags=good-old-game

BTW limiting the search to Linux games brings their number from 452 to 64.


Last edited by pb on 6 April 2022 at 1:43 pm UTC

Quoting: pbThe link from the article doesn't work, redirects to https://www.gog.com/en/games
Proper link: https://www.gog.com/en/games?tags=good-old-game

It's a bug on their end, nothing I can do about it right now as our links auto change.
Edit: fixed for now using a different link, have let GOG know.


Last edited by Liam Dawe on 6 April 2022 at 1:47 pm UTC

I was a DRM free enthusiast, loved GoG.

But I noticed that they simply don't care about Linux. A lot of DOSBox games with support only to Windows, Linux ports needing the installation of libraries even on supported distro (bad UX), ports that don't even work anymore on any distro, GoG galaxy exclusive to Windows (they even detects the OS and disallow the download on Linux).

While Steam do a huge investment on Linux, with improvements on Kernel and Drivers.

I sincerely don't care about them.

Quoting: fagnerln(they even detects the OS and disallow the download on Linux).

This is what killed my interest in them largely, along with their really crappy onboarding for affiliates.

I still throw money at GoG for things like this as we need players in the market, but it disappoints me how they neglect Linux. I gave up long ago they'd listen to their top requests of Galaxy and just grab these new old games for cheap as they come. I'd spend alot more on GoG as a whole if they started caring.

I too used to be a big GOG backer because of the lack of DRM. I have a bunch of games from them. But lack of any sort of continuing support from them finally drive me to Steam and to order a Steam Deck.

It wasn't just lack of Linux support, I had Windows games that wouldn't keep working -- I was willing to keep a Windows VM around for that. But lack of DRM when you can't get the game to run makes no difference.

I just recently found out about Lutris from this site, and that seems to make GOG stuff easier to run just in general -- even compared to directly on Windows.

I'm a software developer and my goal when playing games isn't to spend time figuring our how to get the game to work. I get paid at work for that sort of stuff. I just want to play my game and relax.

I know their shift away from older PC titles is a big part of why I personally stopped using them as at that point they basically became Steam competitor with only the DRM Free thing going for them after that happened. Now that being said I still end up buying off of them as they have digital distribution rights for a fair bit of older notable titles. But for anything newer if I really want DRM free I check Itch first for indie games now days as much more pleasant of a platform to deal with on Linux.

When I click on "The Wheel of Time" link FF warns me of a potential security threat listing a adtraction domain. Not cool.

I'm sure they'll go back to being Win-only very soon. They must be cutting their corners and letting go any unprofitable parts of their business and that obviously means us.

Quoting: Guest

Quoting: fagnerlnBut I noticed that they simply don't care about Linux. A lot of DOSBox games with support only to Windows,

What's the problem with dosbox?

I think the second half of the phrase is the important one here. DOSBox isn't the issue. Based on playing with Lutris, getting DOSBox to run on Linux is doable, but the perception is that GOG can't be bothered to add Linux support to DOSBox games.

If GOG wanted to stay relevant, they needed to be supporting something like Lutris years ago.

If they wanted to stay relevant with the Linux crowd. Which they don't.

According to Lutris, I own 64 games on GOG. According to my GOG account status, that amounts to £10.82 in revenue, since 2013. Every else is either Steam Connect titles (back when that was a thing), or Humble Bundles / Prime Gaming.

But of course, GOG don't care about Linux, so I don't care about GOG.

Incidentally, £7 of that revenue was a single game - Descent, so that I could play it on the fully Linux compatible DXX-Rebirth engine. I've never understood how GOG could have this wonderful back catalogue of old games and not see the opportunity afforded by such projects, and Linux itself. Hey ho.

Quoting: damarrinWhen I click on "The Wheel of Time" link FF warns me of a potential security threat listing a adtraction domain. Not cool.

Sounds like a plugin doing that? Get no issues here.

I will always give GOG business over other stores when they have a game I want. I don't like using clients and actually prefer being able to download just the installers from their website. I know i'm in the minority on that one. Compared to Itch.io I like how when a game is updated that I own I get a notification on the GOG site, with Itch.io it is up to the developers to notify the users when the game has been updated unless you're using the client. In any case I just so happen to like how GOG does things so it works for me.

Quoting: fagnerlnLinux ports needing the installation of libraries even on supported distro

I will concede this but I do have to add that I have had games on Steam before that also require this. A big difference is many of the titles that need this on GOG state this on the store page while on Steam I had to see the game wouldn't launch; run it in temrinal to find out why; and see that a library was missing and download it. Obviously not all Steam games do this but to be fair not all games from GOG do either.

Quoting: Liam Dawe

Quoting: damarrinWhen I click on "The Wheel of Time" link FF warns me of a potential security threat listing a adtraction domain. Not cool.

Sounds like a plugin doing that? Get no issues here.

Adtraction is on the default filter lists of common adblockers like uBlock Origin.

Quoting: tuubi

Quoting: Liam Dawe

Quoting: damarrinWhen I click on "The Wheel of Time" link FF warns me of a potential security threat listing a adtraction domain. Not cool.

Sounds like a plugin doing that? Get no issues here.

Adtraction is on the default filter lists of common adblockers like uBlock Origin.

Yeah, that's why I suggested it.

Quoting: Guest

Quoting: damarrinIf they wanted to stay relevant with the Linux crowd. Which they don't.

Focusing on old games, as the name "good old games" suggests, you're absolutely correct. There's really no point: relatively few of those older games having native versions, with wine or dosbox taking care of the bulk of the titles. With software such as Lutris, there's really no reason for GOG to actually bother with GNU/Linux: the market share is too small, and everything needed for GNU/Linux users is basically already taken care of. For older games, of course (and I daresay for most newer titles too).
Ironically, I suspect it's easier to get the older games running on GNU/Linux thanks to wine and dosbox, than it is to provide interface libraries and have the games run on Windows.

Why bother with all of those?

Steam provides tools for both. Steam Linux Runtime for native and Proton for others. An they have first class Linux support, Regional pricing, alternative payment options and countless other features via their Native Linux Client. So there is no reason for me to bother with gog.

Quoting: Guest

Quoting: Sputnik_tr_02

Quoting: Guest

Quoting: damarrinIf they wanted to stay relevant with the Linux crowd. Which they don't.

Focusing on old games, as the name "good old games" suggests, you're absolutely correct. There's really no point: relatively few of those older games having native versions, with wine or dosbox taking care of the bulk of the titles. With software such as Lutris, there's really no reason for GOG to actually bother with GNU/Linux: the market share is too small, and everything needed for GNU/Linux users is basically already taken care of. For older games, of course (and I daresay for most newer titles too).
Ironically, I suspect it's easier to get the older games running on GNU/Linux thanks to wine and dosbox, than it is to provide interface libraries and have the games run on Windows.

Why bother with all of those?

Steam provides tools for both. Steam Linux Runtime for native and Proton for others. An they have first class Linux support, Regional pricing, alternative payment options and countless other features via their Native Linux Client. So there is no reason for me to bother with gog.

Turns out that my distro provides all of those tools for free, outside of a proprietary games management client, and integrated with the distro itself.

Yea G.O.G Good old gatekeeping.

Quoting: Guest

Quoting: damarrinIf they wanted to stay relevant with the Linux crowd. Which they don't.

Focusing on old games, as the name "good old games" suggests, you're absolutely correct. There's really no point: relatively few of those older games having native versions, with wine or dosbox taking care of the bulk of the titles. With software such as Lutris, there's really no reason for GOG to actually bother with GNU/Linux: the market share is too small, and everything needed for GNU/Linux users is basically already taken care of. For older games, of course (and I daresay for most newer titles too).
Ironically, I suspect it's easier to get the older games running on GNU/Linux thanks to wine and dosbox, than it is to provide interface libraries and have the games run on Windows.

That's not true, Galaxy is still needed for online functionality even if the games otherwise install and run fine on Linux. For example Gwent, their online card game, is absolutely playable on Linux; except it needs Galaxy running in the background which is a pain in the a$$.

If they really were the nice, pro DRM-free guys they're purporting to be (as opposed to the Linux-hating Windows shills they actually are; their new deal with Epic just about proves it in my eyes) they would at least have released a galaxy.so library for Linux users to use as they see fit. But nope. So **** them. And I say that as the owner of some 300 GoG games.

I'm going to throw my hat into the ring here (for no good reason)...
I gravitated towards GOG due to both the DRM-Free attitude at the onset, as well as the initial focus on older games... games that were very difficult to obtain legally through other means. I have hundreds of titles from them, and, over all, I've feel generally content with my purchases (yes, I have purchased some new-ish indies along with the older games).

I am whole heartedly disappointed with GOG's outward, at best, indifference towards Linux. I'm very well aware that Linux is still a pretty damn niche OS for gamming and "isn't financially worth the effort to support", so, I'm usually not surprised when there exists no Linux support and am fine with having to tinker my purchases to life on my own (I'm a strange duck in that I kinda like the tinkering). GOG, however, does feel like they do have a sort of resentment towards Linux, especially given their original market was retro games that, I dare say, often work better and are easier to setup in Linux than in Windows.

I'm not against purchasing GOG titles, even now, but I do tend to stick with the really old games when I do purchase from them.

Honestly... if GOG is in financial straits, then right now might be the best time for them to start embracing Linux. If they were to get Galaxy to actually RUN on Linux, released it as a Flatpak, then they'd be on Steam Deck and they might even see an uptick in game sales! Hell, Steam's footing the bill for the hardware, all they need to do is a comparatively tiny bit of elbow grease on their software, and they'd be available for a bunch (hundreds of thousands, I'd wager) of users that'd be happy to buy games from them to use on the Deck. Hell... even if it cost them a million to get Galaxy running and installable on Steam, I'd be totally flabbergasted if they didn't make that up in sales.