Applauding their preservation efforts, cannot recommend purchasing DRM-free games through them enough. For all the convenience Steam provides there's something about the idea of Steam shutting...
Applauding their preservation efforts, cannot recommend purchasing DRM-free games through them enough. For all the convenience Steam provides there's something about the idea of Steam shutting down and then having nothing that is just something that cannot happen with downloaded installers.
This is so aligned with my principles for all other media but I can't break away from Steam. How can I change? Is GoG good for all types of games or mostly indie? How much profit goes to the...
This is so aligned with my principles for all other media but I can't break away from Steam. How can I change? Is GoG good for all types of games or mostly indie? How much profit goes to the developer/publisher for each game when compared with Steam?
For a while, I tried to put my money where my mouth was and buy DRM-free games where I could. This meant prioritizing buying from GOG or itch.io first, with Steam being the fallback. It worked...
For a while, I tried to put my money where my mouth was and buy DRM-free games where I could. This meant prioritizing buying from GOG or itch.io first, with Steam being the fallback.
It worked well for some stuff. GOG has a decent selection of indie titles, as well as some bigger names from older years. If you’re trying to keep current, then it’s not a great platform, but if you fit in to the r/patientgamers model then it’s excellent.
One problem I repeatedly ran into, however, was that some developers’ GOG builds would lag behind their Steam counterparts. A particularly egregious example was Nuclear Throne. The devs uploaded a build of the game for sale, then didn’t touch it for years, despite the Steam version getting frequent updates during that time. I bought it on GOG thinking I was doing the “right” thing, only to end up with a build that was way out of date. I felt like I’d gotten punished for trying to buy on GOG.
I’m not sure how current it is, but there is this spreadsheet which aims to track issues like that in GOG’s library.
The other issue that I ran into was Linux support. GOG made an earnest attempt at offering Linux builds for games where possible, and going so far as to test those Linux builds on Ubuntu. This initiative didn’t seem to remain a priority though, and they then released their GOG Galaxy launcher with no Linux support (and no future plans for it).
Currently, the best way to enjoy GOG on Linux is through third-party tools like Heroic or Lutris. It’s nice that those exist, but having to jump through third-party hoops to play a build of a game that might not even be up to date adds a lot of friction.
Steam, by contrast, has made gaming on Linux so smooth it’s invisible. After spending a few years mostly on GOG, I ended up coming back to Steam as my primary platform. I even ended up re-buying a lot of games I bought on GOG simply to reduce the friction associated with them. Now that the Steam Deck is out, I’m essentially fully locked into Steam’s ecosystem, despite the fact that I really do love GOG and what they stand for.
I sound like I’m a little sour on GOG, but that’s painting a bit of an unfair negative picture. Yeah, Nuclear Throne didn’t update, but plenty of other games did, and I played dozens of other games just fine. My mini GOG review is one of those “played for thousands of hours; thumbs down” ones where someone gets TOO close to something to the point that small flaws get magnified out of proportion.
The truth is that, if you’re willing to put up with some minor annoyances, then GOG is worth it. I still love GOG despite moving away from them, and I really do want to see them be successful. I make it a point to buy exclusive releases on there that I’m interested in. If I were gaming on Windows instead of Linux, they’d probably still be my primary (especially with a unifying launcher like Playnite).
Even Linux support is much better now thanks to Proton and Heroic or Gamehub — tools that weren’t available at the time I switched off of GOG. The main issue you’ll have likely won’t be technical: it’ll likely be that you can’t find a game you specifically want in their library, since their catalog is significantly smaller than Steam’s.
As a closing note, I’ll add that, when I was on GOG, I did keep backups of the installers for my games, and I never felt “safer” regarding my games library. Steam could die tomorrow and I’d be cooked, but if GOG died tomorrow I’d still have a lot of great things to play…
…or I would, if I hadn’t cleared the backups to save space 🙃
Amazing - thanks for the breakdown! I am a bit of a data hoarder, so it looks like the best course of action for me would be to save installers for indie games that I really enjoy and go to the...
Amazing - thanks for the breakdown! I am a bit of a data hoarder, so it looks like the best course of action for me would be to save installers for indie games that I really enjoy and go to the cloud for the rest.
It's pretty unlikely they'll just delete your library no matter who is in leadership. The whole thing is just straight up paranoia. I've been hearing the same shtick (though in the context of...
It's pretty unlikely they'll just delete your library no matter who is in leadership.
The whole thing is just straight up paranoia. I've been hearing the same shtick (though in the context of physical vs digital) ever since Steam became a thing. It's been 22 years at this point. When are my games finally going to be taken away?
IMO it's a million times more likely you'll lose games because it will be difficult to get a 30 year old game to run on modern hardware and modern OS. The work GoG is doing in that area is far more important than providing an offline installer.
I hope my argument didn't come off as paranoia. You are right though. But some Games as a Service have been taken offline and set a precedent in that regard. Granted, those games cannot be played...
I hope my argument didn't come off as paranoia. You are right though. But some Games as a Service have been taken offline and set a precedent in that regard. Granted, those games cannot be played even with an offline installer. Some games do disappear or have content removed due to ending licenses (music, cars etc.)
Applauding their preservation efforts, cannot recommend purchasing DRM-free games through them enough. For all the convenience Steam provides there's something about the idea of Steam shutting down and then having nothing that is just something that cannot happen with downloaded installers.
This is so aligned with my principles for all other media but I can't break away from Steam. How can I change? Is GoG good for all types of games or mostly indie? How much profit goes to the developer/publisher for each game when compared with Steam?
For a while, I tried to put my money where my mouth was and buy DRM-free games where I could. This meant prioritizing buying from GOG or itch.io first, with Steam being the fallback.
It worked well for some stuff. GOG has a decent selection of indie titles, as well as some bigger names from older years. If you’re trying to keep current, then it’s not a great platform, but if you fit in to the r/patientgamers model then it’s excellent.
One problem I repeatedly ran into, however, was that some developers’ GOG builds would lag behind their Steam counterparts. A particularly egregious example was Nuclear Throne. The devs uploaded a build of the game for sale, then didn’t touch it for years, despite the Steam version getting frequent updates during that time. I bought it on GOG thinking I was doing the “right” thing, only to end up with a build that was way out of date. I felt like I’d gotten punished for trying to buy on GOG.
I’m not sure how current it is, but there is this spreadsheet which aims to track issues like that in GOG’s library.
The other issue that I ran into was Linux support. GOG made an earnest attempt at offering Linux builds for games where possible, and going so far as to test those Linux builds on Ubuntu. This initiative didn’t seem to remain a priority though, and they then released their GOG Galaxy launcher with no Linux support (and no future plans for it).
Currently, the best way to enjoy GOG on Linux is through third-party tools like Heroic or Lutris. It’s nice that those exist, but having to jump through third-party hoops to play a build of a game that might not even be up to date adds a lot of friction.
Steam, by contrast, has made gaming on Linux so smooth it’s invisible. After spending a few years mostly on GOG, I ended up coming back to Steam as my primary platform. I even ended up re-buying a lot of games I bought on GOG simply to reduce the friction associated with them. Now that the Steam Deck is out, I’m essentially fully locked into Steam’s ecosystem, despite the fact that I really do love GOG and what they stand for.
I sound like I’m a little sour on GOG, but that’s painting a bit of an unfair negative picture. Yeah, Nuclear Throne didn’t update, but plenty of other games did, and I played dozens of other games just fine. My mini GOG review is one of those “played for thousands of hours; thumbs down” ones where someone gets TOO close to something to the point that small flaws get magnified out of proportion.
The truth is that, if you’re willing to put up with some minor annoyances, then GOG is worth it. I still love GOG despite moving away from them, and I really do want to see them be successful. I make it a point to buy exclusive releases on there that I’m interested in. If I were gaming on Windows instead of Linux, they’d probably still be my primary (especially with a unifying launcher like Playnite).
Even Linux support is much better now thanks to Proton and Heroic or Gamehub — tools that weren’t available at the time I switched off of GOG. The main issue you’ll have likely won’t be technical: it’ll likely be that you can’t find a game you specifically want in their library, since their catalog is significantly smaller than Steam’s.
As a closing note, I’ll add that, when I was on GOG, I did keep backups of the installers for my games, and I never felt “safer” regarding my games library. Steam could die tomorrow and I’d be cooked, but if GOG died tomorrow I’d still have a lot of great things to play…
…or I would, if I hadn’t cleared the backups to save space 🙃
Your spreadsheet link also points at the nuclear throne page. Did you mean this spreadsheet?
I absolutely did, but I whiffed the link. It’s now fixed. Thanks, Protected!
Amazing - thanks for the breakdown! I am a bit of a data hoarder, so it looks like the best course of action for me would be to save installers for indie games that I really enjoy and go to the cloud for the rest.
It's far more likely that your hard drive will die than steam will die.
It's pretty unlikely they'll just delete your library no matter who is in leadership.
The whole thing is just straight up paranoia. I've been hearing the same shtick (though in the context of physical vs digital) ever since Steam became a thing. It's been 22 years at this point. When are my games finally going to be taken away?
IMO it's a million times more likely you'll lose games because it will be difficult to get a 30 year old game to run on modern hardware and modern OS. The work GoG is doing in that area is far more important than providing an offline installer.
I hope my argument didn't come off as paranoia. You are right though. But some Games as a Service have been taken offline and set a precedent in that regard. Granted, those games cannot be played even with an offline installer. Some games do disappear or have content removed due to ending licenses (music, cars etc.)
I'm well aware :P this is why backups exist.