GOG finally remove the false "in progress" note about GOG Galaxy for Linux

Quoting: damarrinThere is no comparison between Valve's and GOG's support of Linux.

GOG reluctantly provide Linux versions of some games. They don't provide Galaxy which means there are missing features in many of those games, like multiplayer or leaderboards. They basically tell people: look, you can game on Windows and get everything, or, yeah, you can game on Linux if you're insane and are OK with missing features and a lesser experience.

Valve provide everything for Linux, from a full-featured client up to enabling Windows-only games to run on Linux with full features. Feral ports are Feral's fault, not Valve's. You can always install the Windows version, which Valve directly allow and enable you to do, to get cross platform multiplayer.

When you buy from GOG, you support the game's creators and GOG, who do nothing to make Linux a more attractive gaming platform. When you buy from Steam, you support the game's creators and Valve, who spend huge amounts of money to make Linux gaming viable (the reason why they do it is debatable, but irrelevant here).

So, yeah. No hypocrisy there.

So from what you're saying Feral's ports are Feral's issue not Valve's but it's ok to blame GOG for Linux ports on their store missing features ? Real fair. Also it's ok to have to use the Windows version of a game but not ok to have to use the Windows version of Galaxy ? This is the hypocrisy Linux gamers are spewing everywhere I go. They will bend their morals and ethics for Valve but get uppity if anybody else suggest they make the same compromise for them.

Quoting: RaabenI keep trying to support GoG, but they keep giving me less and less reason to.

Same here. I want to like them, but lately it's been screw-up after screw-up.

Quoting: PublicNuisanceI'll never understand the logic of Linux gamers. GOG gets criticized for not having a Linux version of their client by the same people who, a majority of, run out in droves to buy Windows games to play in Wine/Proton.

There is no inconsistency here whatsoever, the analogy is false.
It's about whether one has a choice. If people want Game X, and it's only available in a Windows version which they can play on Proton, then they will buy it that way. But most Linux people, given a choice of Windows with Proton or solid native Linux version, would go for the solid native Linux version. And if there were two companies somehow publishing the exact same game, but company A only made a Windows version and company B sold a Windows and a solid native Linux version, those Linux people would buy from company B, and badmouth company A for failing to do what company B does, much the way they badmouth GoG.

Quoting: PublicNuisanceSo from what you're saying Feral's ports are Feral's issue not Valve's but it's ok to blame GOG for Linux ports on their store missing features ? Real fair.

Yes, I think it is quite fair to not blame people for things that are not within their control, but to blame people for things that are.
The Linux ports on GoG's store are missing features that they would have on Steam, because GoG's Galaxy that manages those features is not available for Linux, while Steam's stuff that manages those features is. Making Galaxy available for Linux is within GoG's control, so it is fair to blame them for not doing it.
Your arguments are crafted to appear logical, but they are in fact completely fallacious.

Mind you, GoG no doubt have their reasons for not doing it. But those reasons are about their perceived self-interest, which does not obligate us to ignore our own self-interest that they are damaging.


Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 1 July 2022 at 5:45 pm UTC

Thinking of Proton, it's open source. If GoG wanted to set up their store so that when a Linux user bought a Windows game they could easily play it with Proton, like they can on Steam, GoG could do that. But they don't.

I'm a little sad GOG is struggling, but their business model failed and they seem to be struggling with what to do next.

Which is a problem when your business model is to be the anti-Steam and in the process, Steam becomes a near Monopoly.

I'm the end, turns out people are really more ok with DRM and a nice, albeit mandatory, client than they bet on.

How do you retake market space without alienating uses that bought in on those founding principles?

Perhaps the bigger problem is that they had principles in the first place.

These proprietary launchers tend to be very bloated, and so is Steam. I miss the non-Web and non-Electron launchers more. When will there be modularity and choice?

Quoting: denyasisI'm a little sad GOG is struggling, but their business model failed and they seem to be struggling with what to do next.

Which is a problem when your business model is to be the anti-Steam and in the process, Steam becomes a near Monopoly.

I'm the end, turns out people are really more ok with DRM and a nice, albeit mandatory, client than they bet on.

How do you retake market space without alienating uses that bought in on those founding principles?

Perhaps the bigger problem is that they had principles in the first place.

To begin with, GOG strayed from their initial business model a long time ago. Their name, Good Old Games, referred to them selling classic games that were not readily available and selling them without DRM. Perhaps that business model wasn't enough... hard to say... but a few years later they started releasing more modern, main stream titles. It's at about this time GOG slowly (or not so slowly, depending on who you talk to) started seeing the "Old" in their name taking less and less relevance. At this point, GOG was trying to compete with Steam for those games GOG could get. I feel they only lasted as long as they did due to the initial good will from their original core offerings (being good Old games).

With the release of Galaxy, it was blatantly obvious GOG was intending to compete with Steam. Any principles they may have started with were tarnishing quickly of their own making. I forget the game, but they actually released a game that could not be played without Galaxy... effectively DRMing the game.

Steam, at least, never claimed to be anything is wasn't, nor has it shifted strategies in it's self marketing. As far as Steam DRM... any game with DRM on Steam is totally up to the developers, and not something imposed by Steam themselves. There are actually quite a large number of games on Steam that actually have no DRM and can be played just fine without Steam running... it's just, why would anyone disconnect the installed game from a perfectly good launcher?

Back to GOG... GOGs one and, to this day, really still only true selling point is "Old" games. You looking for a easy to obtain copy of Decent, Pools of Radiance, the Wizardry series, etc, etc? GOG is still the easiest place to get those. All the other stuff? Steam has it, and I'm willing to wager those games on both GOG and Steam, they're DRM free on Steam as they are on GOG.

A shame. I would really love to support GoG for their DRM-Free approach and because i like underdogs. But after the initial phase where they got my trust in advance, i just can't justify it seeing how they essentially ignore Linux completely...

Biggest annoyance is not the lack of official client, but lack of support for Galaxy features on their server for Linux versions.

So no Galaxy API for updates (though there is a workaround using Linux installers and zip offsets that lgogdownloader can utilize) and no multiplayer either.


Last edited by Shmerl on 1 July 2022 at 7:59 pm UTC

About Steam Deck, I'm still not clear if input support and all the controller related stuff is tied to Steam or not. Let's say you get a GOG game (whether native or Wine use case). How are you going to integrate it with controllers without Steam? Is it possible? Are there open source libraries for Steam Deck controllers support that can be exposed to games and Wine?


Last edited by Shmerl on 1 July 2022 at 8:03 pm UTC

Quoting: denyasisI'm a little sad GOG is struggling, but their business model failed and they seem to be struggling with what to do next.

Which is a problem when your business model is to be the anti-Steam and in the process, Steam becomes a near Monopoly.

I'm the end, turns out people are really more ok with DRM and a nice, albeit mandatory, client than they bet on.

How do you retake market space without alienating uses that bought in on those founding principles?

Perhaps the bigger problem is that they had principles in the first place.

I think you're making an unwarranted assumption. I don't think the principles involved hurt them. Certainly not around here, where everyone basically says "I like their principles, if only they didn't suck in other ways". The Linux crowd is perhaps unusual there, but I think GoG's problem is that while their no-DRM idea was good and by and large helped them, it wasn't enough to beat a competitor which was superior in some other ways and had big network effects.

It may be that GoG tried to grow too big. Sometimes you have a small but profitable business, you decide to expand, you spend a bunch of money to expand, and it turns out the additional revenue isn't enough to make up for all the new expenses.

No mention of minigalaxy?

Quoting: ruskieGiven I stick to lgogdownloader as my archiver and minigalaxy as my GOG Launcher - not too bothered(at least for native releases, lutris for wine). Having talked with some devs about issues they have on releasing Linux builds on GOG - there is a lot more they need to do behind the scenes then anything. Still I'll prefer GOG over any other store.

I am aware supporting Linux is more work but it is also an investment, a marketing opportunity, partnerships opportunities. GOG simply does not have vision or have someone in leadership that is anti Linux or both.

Quoting: Purple Library GuyI think you're making an unwarranted assumption. I don't think the principles involved hurt them.

I would disagree. I think they were hampered by them. I think It made it hard to move away from them, creating issues that didn't exist on Steam. As @ObsidianBlk pointed out, the main thing was a DRM free back catalogue of nostalgia that no one else had... Then those games got published on Steam. They had to change away from that core business model to keep up.

I agree that their principles are nice and I agree with @ObsidianBlk and you that they probably helped get them off the ground, but I do think their existence made it more difficult to adjust to a competitor with some superior offerings and no self imposed constraints. Now they've certainly made many other mistakes asking the way, I absolutely agree with you completely with that, but limiting your business model to something that most gamers don't really see as a purchase altering priority, I would argue, does hurt then a bit.

Edit- sorry @ObsidianBlk. I totally butchered your name when typing.


Last edited by denyasis on 1 July 2022 at 10:01 pm UTC

I’m a Steam customer and have my full library there, because convenience but also because their investment into the Linux gaming stack (they could have made Proton completely closed, but decided to go 100% Open Source!).
That said I do think GOG fully deserves their place and I hope they ship into better waters soon. Granted, their communication could be better, but in my opinion they support Linux, but just passively and not actively like Valve. I guess reasons are of simple economical nature. GOG is certainly not anti-Linux and still deserves it’s place in the Linux gaming world.


Last edited by jens on 1 July 2022 at 10:13 pm UTC

Quoting: dorron...and that's why i don't buy anything from GOG.

They do have Linux builds and they work well. The no drm policy makes a client irrelevant outside convenience features like auto updates.
Steam is also great and they've done a lot more for gaming on linux than gog but gog is the only drm free store out there. Steam also has drm free titles but they do not label them. Both have contributed a lot in their own way.


Last edited by devland on 1 July 2022 at 10:32 pm UTC

Quoting: jensI’m a Steam customer and have my full library there, because convenience but also because their investment into the Linux gaming stack (they could have made Proton completely closed, but decided to go 100% Open Source!).
That said I do think GOG fully deserves their place and I hope they ship into better waters soon. Granted, their communication could be better, but in my opinion they support Linux, but just passively and not actively like Valve. I guess reasons are of simple economical nature. GOG is certainly not anti-Linux and still deserves it’s place in the Linux gaming world.

Agree, I have over 110 games in GOG, I really like their store. However, over time I've found myself shifting more and more over steam than GOG. Maybe due to all the features that Steam client provides (controller input regardless of brand, cloud saves, proton, etc), things that I can't have with GOG.

I do like like GOG galaxy, but even while running it with Wine doesn't work well. Releasing GOG Galaxy on Linux for sure would be really helpful, but maybe not enough now that we have proton on another launcher.

Quoting: jensbut in my opinion they support Linux, but just passively and not actively like Valve. I guess reasons are of simple economical nature. GOG is certainly not anti-Linux and still deserves it’s place in the Linux gaming world.

I think that this is the issue I have with GOG - it's not a big deal for me, just an occasional nitpick. I do still buy there because there are games they have that, as far as I know, Steam doesn't, but their Linux support seems to be a bit scattergun and I'd go there more often if it wasn't.

For example, they've got a whole lot of classic MS-DOS titles, but they inexplicably aren't all available with the Linux DOSBox wrapper. Of course you can get around this with Innoextract (which I learned of from some of the folks here on GOL) but that's an extra step that you don't always have to take. It just feels odd to me that it's inconsistent and sometimes mildly inconvenient.

While I'm certainly disappointed that development has almost certainly ended, I'm not surprised. Frankly, I wouldn't care at all about most of the features of Galaxy if Lutris/Heroic/miniGalaxy could get cloud saves to work. That's literally the only feature the client offers that I consider something I will strongly miss. I do sort of enjoy having hours played and achievements (mostly just as timestamps - kind of interesting to look back years later to reminisce about a game), but if they disappeared, I could move on.

I am hopeful a solution will be found so I don't have to manually set up Syncthing for games. GOG will still remain my preferred source to buy games.