Blizzard Changed Their Mind, Then GOG Humiliated Them

[@SebastianWeinberg]

The most common thing that stops me from buying a game on GOG, instead of Steam, is that the game isn't _available_ on GOG - because the publishers are quite simply _not okay_ with the very idea of us "owning" the games we purchase.

[@chaosmeisters6781]

@@pian-0g445 GOG belongs to CD Project family, would be odd for CDPR not to have their own games on there.

[@Darlf_Sevil]

I would say i like steam more and gog well it own by cd and cd show that it slowly turn itno standard corporations alos forum aspect of steam

[@dranon0o]

Just stop playing games on Steam, idk man seems easy

[@LadyInStem]

@@dranon0o this is a bit reductive.

[@MugiMo510]

Accessibility is key here. I love Steam's infrastructure but I'm now shaken about the licenses to the 1000+ games I have on there. I want to shift my collection to DRM-free platforms like GOG. It's the actual future.

[@theotherjared9824]

How publishers treat GOG is their true colors. They can say whatever they want, but GOG makes them pick a side.

[@williamyoung9401]

In Gabe We Trust...

[@aquaphobicFish]

given the choice i will buy off gog over steam even though steam does more work to support my os (linux) I value gogs values more

[@casey360360]

@@aquaphobicFish Fortunately the progress made with WINE in recent years makes it SO much easier to just avoid Steam.

[@Tangies]

@@aquaphobicFish yeah i try to get as many singleplayer games on there as i can

[@Reman1975]

@@aquaphobicFish Yeah. If it's on GoG, I'll buy it there purely for the ability to download the install files., but unfortunately the choice of modern titles is always limited. Steam may have this problem where developers drop games and Steam has to cut customer access to them, but on the flip side, there's also a big bonus from being able to migrate to Linux, and still having an impressive amount of your Steam library remain working. My old games PC runs Mint, and the majority of my Steam library is happily installed/working natively on there.

[@Risen548]

I remember when they took fallout away from gog and so before it went off gog, they gave fallout and fallout 2 away for free.

[@lonyo5377]

That was because Bethesda bought the rights from Interplay. They then came back again after a break.

[@Mirthful_Midori]

Also Tactics, but that was Interplay's move. It was the last time Interplay had the rights to Fallout and they gave it away for free.

[@furrymessiah]

I got those games when that happened. Thanks, GOG!

[@calebgoodman3028]

Weren’t Fallout 1 and 2 already free in Bethesda’s website? Same for Elder Scrolls 1 and 2 as well as side games.

[@lonyo5377]

@@calebgoodman3028 not when they didn't own the rights...

[@KDKalvinDrake]

Its super refreshing to have a company make a decision that is focused on long-term good will, and not short-term profits

[@decwow]

As long as you've got a product or service to sell that people want, the long-term good will tends towards long-term profits, anyway.

[@MarkStockman-b4j]

Excessive profit taking (along with other epically stupid business decisions) is what resulted in General Electric, once the largest and most profitable company on the planet, ending up with a lower market cap than either Starbucks or Nike a few years ago.

[@TellYouHwaet]

Blizzard: "Stop updating my game!" GOG: "I''m going to update it even harder!"

[@williamyoung9401]

Even if people don't switch from Steam to GOG, COMPETITION is what keeps a marketplace healthy for all involved. Steam isn't immutable. Gabe could die, sell out, or turn Evil. If you look at the agreements we all agree to in order to play our favorite games, we're only leasing the games from Steam. We don't actually own anything. Especially if it's digital. Gabe could legally pull a 'Day Before' and just take the money and run if he wanted to. As could the next owner of Valve/Steam...

[@theshadowcult]

Blizzard: What have you got there? GoG: Games that work. Blizzard: No!

[@CubicIronPyrite]

Try playing the original Unreal after buying it from Steam. Your modern beast of a PC will stutter like crazy, you NEED community patches to make it playable. Bellular is underplaying the work needed by communities to keep old games playable.

[@JKcomm]

@@CubicIronPyrite The original Unreal is available on GOG as well, and runs very well on my modern (Windows 11, Ryzen 5 7600X, 32Gb RAM @ 6000MHz, RTX 5070 Super) system. I will give the community patches a big thumbs up though, because they have made some really good improvements.

[@Michael-bn1oi]

​@@JKcomm If you got it on GoG, it was patched.

[@bulkvanderhuge9006]

“If people can play their old games, then we can't make money re-releasing them over and over and over again as “Remasters”

[@TheMarcHicks]

@bulkvanderhuge9006 that's what Blizzard did with Warcraft III Reforged, and what Rockstar Games did with the GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition. Sold so-called remasters that were worse than the originals, at full cost, at the same time as they delisted those cheaper, original games.

[@snappa_tv]

Except 90% of the time they never re release them

[@Milanin8]

@@TheMarcHicks It wasn't even a remaster. It was a port of the console versions with no optimization for PC

[@ZeroXSEED]

"We don't make remaster, that takes away our precious time and human resources from developing new, good games"

[@SimuLord]

I still have mixed opinions about remasters. Two games I love and still play-Rise of Nations and Rome Total War, originally released in 2003 and '04 respectively-I'm mainly able to play on Windows 11 and modern hardware because those games were remastered in 2017 and 2021. I still have 2004 RTW in my Steam library, but it has a funny habit of dropping to 8 frames per second on the campaign map for no readily-explained reason other than "is game from 2004." Would I love it if I could play those games in their original form on modern hardware with the same smoothness (or whatever smoothness they were able to achieve-we always forget how glitchy RTW got especially at release because of nostalgia goggles) in 2004? Of course! Is it a dealbreaker if a company releases a faithful remaster and doesn't jack the price up to $70? Well...ehhh, I hate to say it but...no. It isn't.

[@BrunodeSouzaLino]

If a company doesn't care to make their products available for purchase, then I won't shed any tears when I'm forced to pirate them.

[@VADemon]

Abandonware should be freeware. Abandoned culture should enter public domain. That's how these companies would be forced to either make everything available or deliberately give it to the world.

[@Smokecall]

@@BrunodeSouzaLino why pirate when you can play their competitors?

[@EQOAnostalgia]

@@Smokecall Why not do BOTH?

[@OldSkullSoldier]

@@VADemon There is no such term as abandonware in any law. Or in other words: you would need to wait till IP for that product is no longer active. And Computer programs are not protected by patents for inventions, but are protected by copyrights, so it is 75 years in USA if I recall correctly.

[@VADemon]

@@OldSkullSoldier You missed the word "should" (twice) and the invisible phrase "the copyright system is broken" :)

[@liviuursegr]

I've been using GOG for years for old, nostalgia filled games and I've always been very happy with them. All respect to their project

[@Jinx_Skeel]

all respect indeed. if there is a brand around that I shamelessly endorse, is gog!

[@looseycanon]

I wanted to play some Heroes 3 and even thought about giving In wake of gods a try, read through Steam descriptions and comments... and find out, that In wake of gods wouldn't work with what Steam has to offfer, but GOG offers the whole nine yeards and In wake of gods works with their copy. Yep, I only learned about GOG on Steam.

[@matthewvelazquez2013]

Me too...VTMB...

[@SimuLord]

The GOG preservation program should be taken up by lawmakers as a legal framework to build "abandonware is public domain" legislation around. Make it so that companies that make the game in the first place have to commit to preserving them, for as long as their company's around, or it's no longer piracy to download them when they get delisted.

[@erascarecrow2541]

Mmmm... I'd rather see Copyright shortened to something reasonable, and i'm leaning towards 10 years.

[@kepler6873]

10 years feels too short for how long many franchises live for. I’d say make it more like a trademark where you have to demonstrate that your still using something, then can extend the copyright just for that franchise. Unused IPs get put into public domain after 10-20 years and the big valuable ones can keep going.

[@SimuLord]

@@kepler6873 HUGE co-sign. Trademark law is actually pretty decent policy as government being in bed with business goes. We need SOME protection from low-effort copycats opportunistically just parasitically stealing anything other people create for their own profit, but copyright as it's currently constituted is absurd.

[@hackerx7329]

@@erascarecrow2541 Before a certain mouse company paid off politicians every few years it started off at 14 years with an option to be renewed once for an additional 14 years. What I would like to see happen is any software that is published has to have the assets and source code along with a release build with no DRM submitted to the library of congress and kept secured. Then when it goes public domain that get made public. That way not only can it be preserved as it was but it can be updated and ported as OSes and hardware changes over the years. I feel that if at any point a work hasn't been made commercially available for 5 years the copyright is nullified and it goes to public domain. That doesn't mean the rights to characters like Mickey or Mario or Sonic etc... would just go into public domain but the individual works they were part of would if they weren't legally available to the public. No more artificial scarcity of the Disney Vault garbage, no more companies saying they won't let you buy a game but somehow you are causing them financial damage if you download something they aren't selling.

[@Kalleosini]

you know, I could be wrong but I believe in my country. if you download software that is no longer available for purchase. they can't do anything about it. okay so they can't do anything about that in particular anyway as only the sharing part is criminalized here in the first place. so they can sue you for damages from you uploading data to other parties in a bittorrent connection. but if the product in question isn't being sold, that means the damages your data sharing has caused amount to 0 since all the people who shared data with couldn't have purchased the game regardless. but I could be wrong.

[@MarceldeJong]

I immediately bought GOG’s version… I am not creating a BattleNet account for these games.

[@red5standingby419]

How do you not have a battlenet account already? I've had mine since Diablo 1 in 1997.

[@TheCraziestFox]

Didn't agree to new terms. I most StarCraft remastered this way.

[@aquagrunty101]

@@red5standingby419 What does it even matter. This is a superior product with less obstacles imo. Not a huge deal but could sway some purchases towards GoG

[@MsHojat]

@@red5standingby419 That is different. Those old ones are just user name and password. I think they mean the new account system that adds like e-mail and real name and DoB and such. It's still not _that_ big of a deal, but it's annoying and I wouldn't want to do it either if I didn't have one from SC2 (which I think is when the new system started). The bigger issue for me would be if it had to use the Blizzard launcher (although I think if it was on Steam that might not be the case?), which I hate using. I don't like having to use _any_ game launcher for that matter (or at least I don't like bloated ones like most of them including Steam's)

[@NaoyaYami]

@@MsHojat You can use Steam in minimalist mode (View -> small mode) so it only lists your games (basically only left-side column remains, library functions, community, stuff, activity etc. are gone). It uses less resources and might possibly load a bit faster.

[@McLovinMods]

I think many "casual PC gamers" aren't aware of GOG let alone understand the nuances of DRM and ownership of digital property. The free games given by Amazon prime through Gog in my opinion, are an extremely good marketing tool and hopefully it is going to make a lot of those casual gamers more aware of what their rights are and how they don't really have any through other stores

[@Freelancer837]

Amazon Prime is for suckers

[@benja1378]

​@@McLovinMods putting gog and Amazon (Prime) anywhere close together in a sentence as if the latter one is anywhere near as good for people is insane lol

[@JayTohab]

@@McLovinMods the WHAT

[@kikixchannel]

@@benja1378 Amazon prime offers GoG keys, with some of those games being quite nice. It doesn't matter whether Amazon Prime or Amazon itself is good or bad. It's a service that is being used by many, and it both introduces gamers to GoG as well as builds their library on it, which has a chance of making those people no longer default to Steam and instead checking both and potentially buying from GoG instead.

[@SimuLord]

"Only a small few desire liberty, the rest seek only a fair master." - attributed to Lucius Cornelius Sulla

[@erickentroller4132]

GOG is my default game store. I typically only buy on Steam if it's not available on GOG. Pretty much for the obvious reason. I'd rather own the game, not just rent it indefinitely.

[@Exarian]

Most of what I play is stuff so indie, the devs can't afford the listing fee to put it on Steam so they have it on itch instead. Sure a lot of what's on Itch isn't very good, but generally the most interesting outsider stuff is *only* on there at least until it gets enough sales to then go on Steam where chances are it won't sell enough to be worth the investment.

[@percher4824]

I buy anything and everything that's old on GoG and modern games on Steam. Steam tends to be a lot better for modern games for various reasons including workshop support and GoG has a much wider selection of older games on offer with good support. What I buy on GoG will never be found on Steam because it's either not there in the first place or it's simply so far below notice that it won't even appear on a discovery queue after hundreds of queues.

[@sirkelendor5429]

You know steam has outright said they view buying a game key as the exact same as buying a physical copy and does everything in their power to keep you with access to those games you buy, right?

[@MagicManICT]

@@sirkelendor5429 They say that, but what does their software say?

[@rossbrinker7552]

Moving forward for me, when I go to buy a game, I'm going to check GOG first! I'd rather buy it from them than rent/lease from Steam.

[@Rycel2001]

The thing I like best about GOG is the ability to fully download a game and create a physical backup of it to use in case of the "worst case scenario". I come from the generation of PC gamers where every game sold had to be purchased from a computer store (Software ETC., Egghead, Incredible Universe, et. al.) and it came in a decorative box full of manuals, lore documents, spreadsheets, collectibles, and more. Games were just as expensive then, but you actually got stuff for what you paid. As the saying goes: "If you can't hold it, you don't own it."

[@wordforger]

YES! And you could download the game to whatever computer you liked too, so you could share it with your friends.

[@RambleOn07]

I miss the giant boxes.

[@JohnDaker35p]

It sucks how today you dont get that kind of stuff. I loved looking through the little booklets in Splinter Cell as a kid. These greedy corpos at the top are so deeply frustrating, they so blatantly dont care about anything more than maximising profits. Californian venture capitalism has poisoned our planet.

[@JKcomm]

@@JohnDaker35p Yeah - I still have a LOT of those game boxes. GOG, however, comes very close to those boxes. Although you do not have a physical copy, you at least have the installer files that, if you store them in a safe place, can never be taken away from you.

[@gamingtonight1526]

But GOG is close, you'll often get the PDF of the map, manual, novel, soundtrack, etc. This means, for a cost, you have an option of finding a game box, printing out all the inserts, copying the installation files to a CD, printing part of the map, or manual page for the box cover, and you have a PC box with a printed manual, etc and CD! Can you do that with Steam! I have about 12 "GOG CDs" in my big box games I still have, and it's so cool to read the manual look at the map and then install the game from GOG CD, here in 2024!

[@joefield5217]

All games should be DRM free. Imagine paying for a product that can ripped away from the user within 10 years. Piracy can never be stopped, unless everything is cloud based.

[@OdinReactor]

"unless everything is cloud based" Oh they really really want to make that a reality. Microsoft is hard at work trying to figure out how to make a subscription-based cloud version of Windows, just like Abobe did with their studio.

[@SimuLord]

I do genuinely wonder if the "ripped away within 10 years" argument isn't just Shakespearean sound and fury to the vast majority of actual customers. Sure, that niche is VASTLY overrepresented in something like a gaming enthusiast channel's comments section, but not counting games that were launched in 2014 (or before) and still get active support even today (looks at the just-released-this-week Greece DLC for 2012's Euro Truck Simulator 2, just for example), or games that have been endlessly re-released to the point where they're on everything with a CPU (Skyrim, 2011), how many people are really playing enough old games that they'll completely change their consumer behavior just to keep that small sliver of their hobby alive? It's that endless novelty that makes it possible for companies to get away with making their games disposable. Because the vast majority of gamers treat games as...well...disposable.

[@christopherheathcote7039]

thats why mocrosoft is pushing the cloud service so hard the day games go claud ony is the day i will be done with gaming

[@arcamean785]

Amen, when games have DRM especially deunvo I lose all interest in those games... I bought a game I shouldn't need to also pirate it to have a permanent copy. Heck in Denuvos case I pirate to get the INTENDED experience because it actively wastes computer resources.

[@lmcgregoruk]

@@SimuLord Yes, ETS 2 still gets support, but that's because of how popular it and ATS are, with people continuing to buy DLC, how many of SCS Software's previous 27 released games got such active development/support from SCS?

[@CrimeyCenter]

I "own" 88 games on Steam and own 132 on GOG. When I have a choice, I choose GOG.

[@ForOne814]

Following this logic, I own every game that is available for torrenting.

[@PaulGuy]

I have around 700 on Steam (Humble Bundles and old Steam sale bundles add up fast), but always check GOG first now, and prefer to buy there if possible. I've got around 150 on GOG by now.

[@neuro_krem]

My thoughts also, but I mainly use Steam now because I switched to Linux. If GOG had Linux native Galaxy client it would be all the way GOG for me.

[@theFalseAlliance]

@@ForOne814 you're a special one aren't ya friend?

[@ashade2877]

@@neuro_krem Could you tell me what I need to do to get Steam to work on Linux as well as it does on Windows. I am in th eprocess of trying to get away from Windows

[@hrpang]

Remember, it isn't piracy. Piracy is a term invented by companies. We the consumer are wanting a product, and the company won't deliver, so why should the company villify the consumer?

[@bigdot2355]

The funny thing sis that the things that are being pirated ain't even being sold anymore too!

[@alwayssleepy115]

Companies acting like 'woe is me, people pirating the game we pulled off from stores!', its a joke.

[@dogofwar6769]

Annoyed that Blizzard never brought the original StarCraft to GOG. Not to mention Diablo 2.

[@MythrilZenith]

By the time War 1+2 and Diablo 1 hit GoG, Starcraft Remastered was already out and being sold by Blizzard themselves, and both Starcraft and Diablo 2 were still being supported on Battlenet. No version of War 1, War 2 or Diablo 1 were being sold or supported when they let GoG start distributing it.

[@Nick-ue7iw]

Tell me about it.....

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

In all fairness, I'm pretty sure that Blizzard hates Diablo 2 due to it being from the before times and the lack of a real money auction house. StarCraft quite honestly wasn't that good of a game, I tried it again when I was able to play a new version with my old key and it was just really, really boring. It lacks the same sort of character that WC 2 did and absolutely requires you to have other people to play with to get any real enjoyment out of it.

[@juxyper]

@@dogofwar6769 afaik sc1 is free to play without the remastered graphics and audio anyway

[@joshuasims5421]

What really hurts is scrolling through the preservation program listings and just thinking, “c’mon, these games aren’t THAT old…”

[@Void_Dragon]

Haha that game from 2005 isnt that old... ..oh

[@Cyber_Akuma]

I am still trying to come to terms with the fact that the first HD console is going to turn 20 next year... I remember when the PS2 felt absurdly cutting edge considering when I started gaming the most advanced system was the NES...

[@hitandruncommentor]

​@@Cyber_Akumayeah I'm right there with you. My first was genesis, it hurts my brain to realize the ps3 is now 2 gens old, and that ps6 is right around the corner.

[@Solizeus]

"I am not that old"

[@sh1leshk4]

We need a Player Preservation Program starting as soon as possible. 😂🙁

[@XCAL1BR0]

If the game simultaneously launches on GOG and Steam - I get it on GOG. Psychonauts 2, Baldur's Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077, both Ghostrunner games, STALKER 2, many indies... I like to support the DRM-free initiative, even if it costs me a bit more.

[@moonasha]

it's not just DRM, devs get way more money when you buy through GOG

[@skullmn3534]

I'm joining this initiative!

[@Kardfogu]

There are quite a lot of cases when I buy a game on both platforms when it comes to indie.

[@Cyberbrickmaster1986]

@@Kardfogu I've been trying to lean more towards GOG when possible. If I bought a game on Steam, is no longer supported or tied to a separate launcher and doesn't have a DRM free version on sale somewhere, I will resort to downloading a repack from Reddit's Megathread if I can.

[@9255223]

So do I! Any devs who support GOG day-and-date (or close to) a Steam release gets my money. I chose to own GOG versions of No Man’s Sky, any Ys or Trails game, any Fever release, the Ghostrunner series, indie games and of course, any CDPR-published game.

[@Reed-Publications]

00:40 - I've been a GOG user for nearly 15 years. I rarely use Steam (only when a game isn't available on GOG).

[@I.C.Weiner]

Gog first. Then steam. With gog as long as I have a hard drive I'll never lose access to my games.

[@themonsterunderyourbed9408]

So... For like 90% of games?

[@matthewcarroll2533]

@@themonsterunderyourbed9408 Sure, if all you buy is "AAA" slop. Shouldn't even be buying that crap to begin with, to be perfectly frank - waste of money.

[@hawfcut2394]

I have 100 games on GOG and I 100% always tell people that while it can't compete with steam, they are worth it.

[@Josh_D78]

same though over 30 of them are from amazon prime lol

[@Rubafix989]

Gog doesn't always have the best versions of games, and sometimes their releases are lackluster in term of stability under modern OS. But I buy all the good ones on there.

[@erascarecrow2541]

800+ here, least til i was banned. Get the gog installers if you want. I don't recommend paying for it, and i blame GoG for that.

[@BlackSun404]

530 on GoG. 0 on Steam. Never had an account. Remember Steam getting big, refused the principle from the start. Anything but easy, especially since in the decade after, physical releases dried up. But I'm the most stubborn mf you can imagine. My way, or the highway. Jumped on GoG the week they launched. Been on Linux (Mint) for 2y+ now, too. Ironically, thanks to Valve's good work with Proton.

[@simplysmiley4670]

If the game you want is on GOG that is.

[@momqabt]

I'm still happy GOG can flip Blizz the bird like that. That just rubs my "F the Corpos" side just the right way

[@GamerModz123]

I mean GOG is a corporation tho 😂

[@idindunuphenwong]

LOL GOG is a Corpo too until you raise that flag and set sail you're reliance is on Corpos 🤣

[@liwojenkins]

@@GamerModz123 Both armies are both armies, both governments are both governments, both men are both men, both women are both women, both cars are both cars, there is no distinction between things with a label associated because I am a robot and have little to no intelligence BEEP BEEP BEEP. If ignorance is bliss you spend your life in ecstasy.

[@Gamer-bv1es]

@@liwojenkins bars

[@leonsmuk4461]

It's just corpo vs corpo. One companies blunder is another companies sale.

[@IllegalTumor]

Steam may be the big kahuna, and i admit i use it much more than any other launcher, but gog always has my absolute respect for how little i see of them taking actions that harm the gaming community and industry, and as someone who’s very sentimental, their core message of preserving old history of gaming is extremely admirable and i don’t see many companies sharing that same care and dedication for the games of the past that shaped the future

[@TheCrimsonCr0ss]

yeah as a main steam user myself I'm glad GOG exists.

[@rookooful]

I have a couple of gog games. I use gog to buy old games from my childhood

[@RecklessFables]

I have Cyberpunk 2077 on GoG. I've noticed some of my most played games are actually on GoG. Not sure there is a correlation or causation there but I ended up installing the GoG launcher since it made things easy for me.

[@ryon5174]

I appreciate GOG for what it is tbh Though I barely use it nor purchase from it unless a game I want to get really isn’t on Steam, like SWAT 4, Empire Earth, and the old MOH titles

[@year256kFOX]

Never bought anything off steam, always GOG.

[@vickveni]

I bought my first game from GOG few weeks ago. Just clicked on the setup and boom, it works. No internet no bs. It works. This is how it should be.

[@catnium]

"Wait y..you cant use old games for recitational purposes, just like how we cant listen to old music, or play with old toys, or use an old paint brush ... right .. guys, y.. you got to use the item s..store and and buy the dlc's." -Big corp 2024

[@Dcyaboi33]

@@catnium correct. Also, awesome Pinkie Pie profile pic.

[@LadyStrella]

@Dcyaboi33 based and ponypilled

[@Zowayix93]

We're gonna end up buying Blu-rays off shady dudes in bad neighborhoods once physical media is made illegal.

[@zacharygustafson8714]

It's especially annoying since digital music is still being sold as discrete files that can be copied and moved around however you want them to.

[@Voldrim359]

Yeah, i have been curious as why not being sold for recreational purposes or even investigation... Their excuse is always the same; "to fight piracy", the best they could do to fight against piracy is giving up for free, those are now like 20, 30 years old game now? It's not that they would sell old consoles again

[@jedstanaland2897]

The only reason that I ever purchase from anywhere but GOG is because is because of complete lack of availability.

[@gargoyled_drake]

I can't think of a game that i wanted that i could not get on GOG.

[@Banzaicat2097]

@@gargoyled_drake I have, NieR Automata and NieR replicant, Elden Ring, Final Fantasy Rebirth and Remake.

[@jedstanaland2897]

@gargoyled_drake There are lots of them especially if you consider certain types of games or games that are in a very specific age range. Windforge, darkout, starbound, sea of radiation 1&2 many others.

[@gargoyled_drake]

@@Banzaicat2097 Yeah. I said games i'd want. I'm not against any of those games. They just aren't games that I want. Neir is too messy to look at. Same with elden ring. Though it looks beautiful in it's chaos. It's just not my thing. Final fantasy rebirth isn't an issue of GOG. I'm sure it will be on GOG 10 years from now. But that game isn't even hitting on Steam before the game is already yesterday news. That's a whole nother issue called SONY. Another player in the ball game that doesn't want to play with the rest.

[@gargoyled_drake]

@@jedstanaland2897 I've never heard of any of the games you just mentioned. Except for starbound. And i'm surprised to hear that starbound isn't on GOG. I think that might be because of the IP owners. And not because GOG doesn't want to provide it. There is litearlly nothing to blame GOG on for not making games available for us. They are literally the only ones trying. The rest is just trying to make remasters to make completely new copyrights first of all. Instead of extending all copyrights. And! Because they want to take the entire cut for them self and leave out the original creators. This was the exact reason why naughtydog made The last of us remasters versions. Yes. Plural. Because they wanted to cut off the original creators of The Last of Us. These people are just greedy scumbags. And we really should'n be sad that their games aren't available. As their games never would have been worth the purchase to begin with.

[@ramgladore]

I just started my GoG game collection last month. I like the idea that I own the games I buy forever. I love Steam. I got many games on there but I lament the possibility that my games can be removed from my library or that if the Steam service stops for whatever reason that I can't play my purchased games anymore lest I pirate them.

[@thewhyzer]

Just don't forget to download and back up the stand-alone installers. That's the only way you'll TRULY own your GOG purchases.

[@kryzethx]

"can be removed ", maybe, but it never happens in practice. Even games that get delisted from the Steam storefront are still available for those who purchased it, including fresh installs Plus, you can also always play Steam games in offline mode

[@thewhyzer]

@@kryzethx And what do you do once GOG itself is no longer available? Or you lose your account? You do not "own" the games if you rely on GOG to keep them safe for you. As long as you only go through GOG to access your games, it is no different from having Steam DRM.

[@kryzethx]

@@thewhyzer Uh, I was arguing in *favor* of Steam. Lol, I don't use gog

[@thewhyzer]

@kryzethx Ah, my bad. GOG dies have the advantage of letting you download and keep the installers so you don't need GOG access to play them ever afterwards, but you need to take advantage of that for it to make a difference. Good luck installing a Steam game while in offline mode, or Sream having maintenance. Stean could also simply die, for example when Gabe does eventually and it gets acquired by Microsoft or EA or whomever.

[@kissalude9032]

Even if they were weaponizing preservation, I'm all for it. So much history lost locked behind games as a service

[@codename1176]

That’s really what the problem is we can’t even PAY them to get access to these old games and they think gamers are weird for pointing that out.

[@kissalude9032]

@codename1176 Got into an argument about that in another video. They were upset with me because I defend emulation and fan products.

[@ReigoVassal]

This is where I say "shut up and take my money".

[@williamyoung9401]

Steam isn't immutable. Gabe could die, sell out, or turn Evil. If you look at the agreements we all agree to in order to play our favorite games, we're only leasing the games from Steam. We don't actually own anything. Especially if it's digital. Gabe could legally pull a 'Day Before' and just take the money and run if he wanted to. As could the next owner of Valve/Steam...

[@Donolohe]

@@williamyoung9401this, so very much. In GabeN I trust, and I don't believe he would do something so extreme on his own, but I fret the day when he's no longer able or even around to reign Valve.

[@Mysticth]

I've been switching over to buying games from GOG for a while now. The only odd exception is in the event a game just isn't on GOG.

[@josephbrandenburg4373]

the truck simulator games aren't on GOG for instance. gotta drive my trucks honestly I have even repurchased stuff on GOG so I can have the DRM free installers.

[@Dinidan]

Total War is one of those, unfortunately.

[@francoisleveille409]

Same here. The only game I recently added from Steam was Half Life 2 because it was free.

[@LynxSnowCat]

Yeah... I've been rebuying old games on GOG or itch (as they go on sale) that I've lost access to on other stores (mostly because I've lost track of the physical media, other digital stores have gone defunct or are are not acceptably-accessible to me after being merged into a 'larger' platform or after their bankrupsy/restructuring voided everyone's lease/license and 'reset' their digital-store over); or accept that I've made purchases on my acct. but absolutely will not allow me to download the games from their private garden becaue I cannot verify my identity hard enough for them ...) And with GOG, being able to maintain a collection of DRM-free off-line installers has been very convenient for me when migrating systems/recovering from lost/damaged drives.

[@zacharygustafson8714]

I really wish the Sonic games were on it.

[@Halfrican-Jones]

10:46 To answer your question; I don’t use Steam on my PC anymore and have strictly been using it for the Steam Deck, as for GOG, no matter what, if one of my favorite games or a new game I’ve been looking toward is in their library, I buy it without a single thought/doubt so that I have a DRM free preserved copy of that said game. GOG has actively become my main source of PC gaming now that I don’t interact with multiplayer games outside of co-op experiences/LAN parties.

[@alexxx4434]

Business is against preservation, because they don't want to lose control.

[@thealienknight]

3:06 - This is incorrect, they will be leaving the storefront on December 13th, which is much sooner.

[@zaxxon4]

I currently have 224 games on Steam, and 196 on GOG. I do my part in supporting the platforms that I believe in.

[@JKcomm]

I have 315 games on Steam and 420 on GOG. That should tell you enough...

[@MangoTangoFox]

I have 410 on GOG... entirely from giveaways.... and that GOG-Connect thing back in the day where it would link to steam and give you a duplicate license.

[@viannizvnv7222]

@@JKcomm Le funy haha number

[@RenGraes]

When I first purchased 7th Legion on Steam, my childhood game, same as Populous The Beginning. I was heartbroken that I couldn't play them... But then Gog was mentioned. I bought both games there... and it works. It runs on my rig. I felt like a kid again... I salute Good Old Games. They are going above and beyond to make sure our gaming history remains accessible...

[@anarkaification]

Omg 7th legion that old gem that Ive totally forgotten about, time to get it on GOG. Thanks! 😃 and that made me remember some kind of mech game where you could have a monkey as a pilot... time to google to see if I can find a name and get that as well 🤔

[@RenGraes]

@@anarkaification Another I played was "Descent Freespace the Dark War" or something like that. I gotta get back into that.

[@kazerniel]

I had this happen with Disciples 2 - the Steam version was unplayably broken, while the GOG version worked all right. Some years later the Steam version got fixed too, but before that Steam was selling a game for years that was unplayable on anything newer than Windows XP!

[@tnmlssvoid]

First video I watch from your channel, you're making some quality content here. Excellent work mate!

[@nayuta_23]

I remember the day I was forced to register to Steam like it was yesterday. Bought a physical game only to find out it was just a code to download the game from a proprietary platform... then, I bought The Witcher 2, and after I installed the full game from the DVD they say "hey, if you register your game on our platform you'll have access to a digital copy of it FOREVER whatever happens to your physical copy, we don't care, you bought it, you own it". I'll always purchase from GoG over Steam no matter what

[@stevenglowacki8576]

Thank you for confirming my first experience with Steam isn't just in my head. I also remember buying a physical copy of the game, only to be told to install Steam to be able to play it. I don't think I ever played that game (I bought a physical bundle of two games just for one of them, and that one didn't require Steam).

[@nathanielbass771]

I think this happened to me for Skyrim. I do not remember. I could probably look in the purchase history feature and check XD yeah, when they started this mess, there was nothing more annoying than "thank you for buying this game. please register with X in order to play"

[@lordlurk7968]

It's important to keep in mind that this is not something entirely done by steam itself, it's the developers who are using steams DRM that force you to install it to play, and this is partly exacerbated by the fact that physical copies from big game titles are not even full installs, and rely on steam to download the rest of the game. Quite a hefty amount of games that aren't AAA or heavily multiplayer focused can be 100% played without steam after you download it simply by just launching the exe in the install folder instead. Steam even has a built-in 'offline' mode that will bypass the DRM of needing to be online anyways for games that just only use steams DRM, on top of having the ability to back up the full install of any game, any time you so choose. It's a bit of a more hidden process to do this, but you effectively get something similar to GOG, but without the updated support for newer systems unless the devs themselves choose to do so.

[@tappy8741]

I too had that experience with many games and it sucked. That is in the past now, as is crap like starforce thankfully.

[@EnhancedNightmare]

I remember that as well. I was like Hell no I don't trust them. Over the year Steam gained my trust but I still don't fully like this situation. Especially since some games disappeared from them (FUEL IM STILL LOOKING FOR YOU)

[@DaenaMichelle]

Long live GOG! Preserver of games, keeper of the arts and culture, guardian of gamers!

[@StormsparkPegasus]

If buying isn't owning, then piracy isn't stealing.

[@TR-Graybles]

Well... He isn't wrong... But the lawyers will have a different opinion!

[@TheWaffleDuke]

Laws tend to disagree with you.

[@Dinidan]

Lawyers get paid to disagree with people.

[@StormsparkPegasus]

@@TheWaffleDuke You think I care about laws? That's funny. I have terabytes of pirated stuff.

[@AlexanderUbel]

Yes... yes, it is.

[@Viewtirby]

Let’s stop saying Blizzard. Activision destroyed what was Blizzard years ago.

[@musizlover2008]

I smell a new era of gaming piracy is on the horizon. People will not like the fact that their favourite game is no longer theirs to keep, no doubt digital pirates will take advantage of this.

[@ReigoVassal]

Digital pirates have take advantage of that. But since they're illegal they can't promote it.

[@kraosdadafusfus8034]

​@@ReigoVassalit's also sometimes unsafe. Other than some english and russian speaking sites, you should be cautious from where to download stuff.

[@Envy_Antonio]

Been hearing this statement for years. Not that much has changed.

[@slendydie1267]

Used to pirate as a kid but I stopped when I downloaded Steam back in 2013. Now the past 3 years maybe I've been just PIRATING game after game. I made a txt with all the games I've played and how much it would've cost me. I have saved over 800 Euro. I have over 1TB of pirated games installed right now. MY budget for games is now 5-7 Euro tops if it exceeds that pirating it is. I only buy Indie games and party games. I also have emulated games on switch and ps3. If Nintendo is reading, this is all made up and it never happened

[@DJJOOLZDE]

Welcome to 1997 :)

[@speedincooper]

Phew just bought the set from GoG in time! Thanks for the video, I didn't even know this was happening

[@ArneBab]

same here 🙂 - thank you for the video!

[@My1xT]

even closer here, and I dont even exactly care about Warcraft, I mostly got it as an FU for Blizzard

[@dogofwar6769]

I didn't get proper 'high speed' internet until like 2015 due to living in one of the most rural parts of the US state of Mississippi. Steam was always a PITA. But at least with GOG when I downloaded a game I didn't have to stay logged into the service to play a game.

[@moonasha]

steam has an offline mode

[@tubensalat1453]

@@moonasha Good thing it got it eventually, but my experience with steam was so abysmal (not being able to play my SP game I bought on a disc because of its fn servers...) that I don't consider returning.

[@Florin_Neagu]

But Steam's had an offline mode since 2004, at the very least when HL2 launched. Pebcak error isn't Steam's responsability.

[@lucidnonsense942]

Offline mode on steam still requires you to log in every so often to avoid lockout. GOG let's you download, a DRM free, offline installer for any version of any game you own - one you can use on any computer you want and doesn't phone home.

[@DragonOfTheMortalKombat]

@@tubensalat1453 Bruhh wait till you see Epic's "offline mode" Besides I've been using Steam offline mode for many years now and it has zero issues ( unless the game is broken )

[@Beldan4]

I'd never even heard of GOG before now. Tks for letting me know.

[@Sephiroth517]

Blizzard proving us once again piracy will never die as, despite the best efforts of dedicated people, piracy will always be needed...

[@flabySPARTAN228]

One of the other main things I love about GOG that I don't hear anyone talking about is unlike steam I'm not forced to update and break my mods until the mod dev can update it or even worse when the mod dev is no longer active and an old game like skyrim suddenly decides to update which bricks that mod and potentially that save with it permanently. If a game has good mod support and I can get it on GOG I will get it on GOG just for that alone.

[@kikixchannel]

On the flip side, some games that get updates on Steam don't get them on GoG (or at least, not as fast), and some of said updates may be fixing game-breaking bugs. Unfortunately, Publishers being uncooperative with GoG is a huge issue.

[@DragonOfTheMortalKombat]

@@kikixchannel True its a huge issue among so many issues that GOG suffers from. They really gotta step up their game honestly.

[@DragonOfTheMortalKombat]

Idg your point. Steam allows you to install different builds of a game lol,

[@jodiepalmer2404]

@@DragonOfTheMortalKombat For games like Fallout 4 and Skyrim SE/AE Microsoft now owns the rights to these games and they've deleted some versions that was stored in STEAM Database to force players to update to current versions. Where they can no longer downgrade to a particular version.

[@flabySPARTAN228]

@@DragonOfTheMortalKombat that depends on the developer putting in different builds. the vast majority of games I play with mods do not allow me to have anything but the newest version on steam.

[@EvanOfTheDarkness]

Everythin I _can_ buy on GOG instead of steam, I do. The real reason that "holds back" GOG, is their commitment their values, they _only_ sell DRM free games. So no live service games, no games with online accounts required (PSN or otherwise). They put their players ahead, and not the greedy companies.

[@gabrielsofta944]

They aren't as committed as you may think. They put DLC for Cyberpunk 2077 that requires internet access on GOG

[@EvanOfTheDarkness]

@@gabrielsofta944 DLC-s, including Phantom Liberty also have an offline installer in the "Extras" section. All DRM free, no internet required.

[@DragonOfTheMortalKombat]

True but they should add something as basic as regional pricing.

[@Guciom]

@@gabrielsofta944 No they didn't. Only thing that the game requires internet access is cloud saves and some cosmetic bonuses if you own other CDPR games.

[@gabrielsofta944]

@@Guciom Yes they did. If you look at the "Cyberpunk 2077 - Piggyback Interactive Map" DLC on GOG you can see that it outright says that it requires an internet connection AND it relies on an external website.

[@mickdipiano8768]

Thanks Gog. I bought it after reading one of those articles.

[@UltraViolentMoon]

Honestly, if companies choose to make harder to get their older games, be it by limiting the availability or charging absurd prices, I just pirate it. My money is too precious to give to companies that want to screw with me.

[@theanimer1]

@@UltraViolentMoon that's my thought process. I stopped caring I'd people pirate. Most companies do everything they can to screw you over. So do it in return! If you like the game and want to support the dev. Can always buy it later too.

[@baronvonhugendong5210]

My problem is I'm a Linux user and steam makes it significantly easier to game. Otherwise I would %100 only buy from GOG

[@xerr0n]

hey, its helping wondrously, creating a middle space for now, if w11 really fs MS and people really jump to Linux en mass then the game makers would also follow, but yeah, that is still a pipe dream, one could only hope.

[@arcadeportal32]

I think my comments are glitching out, but try Heroic if you haven't!

[@IncognitoActivado]

Just use wine.

[@ZombiePicnic]

Gog works fine on lutris and/or bottles.

[@arcadeportal32]

@@ZombiePicnic The new GOG launcher has had issues running on Wine for a bit now, I don't know if those issues have been fixed. Which is why I started using the app-image of Heroic. Been working great so far!!

[@DaShikuXI]

This is why you pirate their games instead of "buying" them whenever you can. If they want to be anti-consumer, you need to be anti-producer.

[@bramvanduijn8086]

Or you buy it on GOG.

[@insertnamehereplox2290]

@@bramvanduijn8086 bLizzard gets money from it that way tho.

[@RadikAlice]

Even that is a different kind of waste imo, I couldn't imagine wanting to pirate a modern Ubisoft game for example. Waste of bandwidth and storage

[@DragonOfTheMortalKombat]

@@RadikAlice Ubislop is trash. By pirating you'll only increase its awareness which is bad for industry as a whole.

[@markd.9538]

Copyrights needs to end immediately on software when it becomes commercially unavailable.

[@alexandreauclair8857]

The default is already gog for me, problem is they don’t have everything

[@EnterNameToNoAvail]

@@alexandreauclair8857 same. It especially pisses me off when a publisher has a game on Gog but then doesn’t put the sequel up on Gog too. I want the whole series on Gog, not split between Gog and steam!

[@robertlombardi8410]

Barring availability problems, my biggest roadblocks to leaving steam are: 1. How centralized steam is. Steam has forums, reviews, workshop, all huge pluses to have bundled into your games library/storefront. 2. The lack of ability to bring my steam library with me, fully and without major inconvenience. And 3. Steam friends. Same as 2 but with contacts instead of games basically

[@georgeoldsterd8994]

GOG has reviews and friends too. But I agree, Steam's launcher has better functionality than Galaxy. 😢

[@Loco0089]

Do keep in mind that some Steam games, such as Jedi Fallen Order and Valkyria Chronicles, are drm-free.

[@shabath]

@@georgeoldsterd8994 Friends feature is useless if nobody else is using it, though.

[@Dorrovian]

@@georgeoldsterd8994 Galaxy has NO functionality. I have given up and play my GOG games through Steam...

[@jishani1]

Steam feels like home. It's been the default way my friends communicated and played games for the better part of 20 years at this point.

[@DunkelBisBunt]

Even without having any background in marketing, the first thing coming to my mind when hearing "they cannot make the games cheaper than on steam" is this: If you can not sell it for less, simply give your customer back some of his money in another way, so EFFECTIVELY he paid less. Like making a customer loyalty program rewarding store credit. Giving store credit for reviewing a game. Do sweepstakes. Do daily login rewards (or weekly, don't want to go overboard). There are countless possibilities to make your customers pay "less" even when they have to pay the full price for the actual purchase at that point of time. Can't be that hard.

[@Eliastion]

Even if you do that, however, this will not have as strong a pull as your product appearing with a lower number next to it when people look for the game to buy. It's a system that reduces your revenue from people already using your service while the potential for drawing in people primarily using competition seems uncertain. I'm not saying it absolutely won't work, but I feel like it's also not as simple and effective as you make it seem (even if it IS just as profitable for the customers). On another note, however - I'm wondering how steam is getting away with these practices, if they are really as described, considering that this is a textbook example of abusing your monopoly to maintain it... Even Amazon got smacked for doing this (although, admittedly, this didn't completely stop them, from what I've heard - they just switching to "soft delisting" where you can keep selling on Amazon but are deprioritized in search results and suggestion algorithms).

[@DunkelBisBunt]

@@Eliastion What I wrote was not meant to present a solution or the surefire way to gain an edge over steam. It was ONLY refering to the single point that was made about GOG not being able to offer lower prices. All other aspects like people wanting to have "all games in one place", community functions, brand awareness etc. etc. have to be tackled separately.

[@TNH91]

I'm pretty sure the important part of "not making games cheaper than on Steam" is in relation to Steam Keys sold on other storefronts, not games sold and distributed fully through other storefronts. As in; "If you're using our infrastructure for distributing your game, the people directly buying through our infrastructure should get the same deal you give where you sell access to our infrastructure to deliver your game"

[@LucasCunhaRocha]

Dude, if steam was 30% higher in price I would steam buy there just for the extra addons that they have like workshop and the community. GoG is still light years behind, and no ammount of "good guy" marketing stunts will change my mind. Hell, they are so bad that they can't handle the redeem traffic when they give away keys on prime gaming, that is ridiculous.

[@GamesFromSpace]

When the idea is that obvious, there's no way it's not already mentioned in the contract. Lawyers aren't stupid.

[@cozymonk]

I am not harping on GOG, but I do want to clarify that GOG does not allow you to actually "own" your games. You buy a license to download the game from them, same as Steam. The difference with GOG is that the games are DRM-free, so even if your license is revoked, if you have the installer, you can still play the game and keep the installer indefinitely.

[@cozymonk]

This wouldn't apply to games you did not download.

[@zach_attakk]

"What is my unfair advantage" In business we call this your "market differentiator"; The thing your business can do that others don't/can't.

[@tdrendru2230]

I found out about GOG only recently, but I love the idea. I also like using Steam, though, and I don't see myself giving up on Steam after all the time I've been building my steam library. Another thing about me is that I mostly play indie games (~90% of what I play is made by indie devs); I simply love the idea of people making games as a form of art, of wanting to share a piece of themselves and their craft with the world. So I prefer buying indie games at full price, to support these indie devs as best I can. Up until recently, I was careful to avoid buying games on discount on Steam, but now with GOG, I do the following: I wait until a game I want is on discount on Steam and/or GOG, and when it is I buy it on both platforms. I've only recently started doing this, but overall I'd say that, if I'm careful to match the discount offers, I pay about the same as I'd pay if I bought games at full price on Steam.

[@Threesixtyci]

One thing that gog does that steam doesnt... is they mod dosbox to work with their msdos games. Steam kinda just doesn't bother.

[@ahdog8]

A lot of Steam games don't have DRM and will still work when you move them out of the Steam apps folder. You might want to check before doubling your purchase! look up "DRM free Steam Games"

[@necrosmurf316]

I buy almost all of my games from GOG for that exact reason, I can download the installer. I started buying from GOG the first year they opened when they only had a few games and now I have over 1100 games with them, most downloaded and on a storage hard drive.

[@DanielGonzalez-vo5ni]

I actually kinda stopped because I'd already gotten most of the older games I'd wanted have something 500+ I think might have to check them out again see if there's anything new

[@necrosmurf316]

@@DanielGonzalez-vo5ni Its worth checking in at least once a month as they always add new games. I do wish they would get some games like Freelancer or Cities Skyline.

[@squeekydinky]

When my new PC lost its CD drive, I went to GOG so I could continue to play Pharaoh and other Sierra Entertainment games that I still have on CD. Sometimes, nostalgia hits.

[@Wolfdogg]

I still buy most of my games first on Steam, but I regularly double-dip on GOG, especially during the Summer and Winter sales. As it stands, I don't intend to change this habit anytime soon. But I definitely appreciate GOG and definitely like to give them money whenever I can.

[@EvanOfTheDarkness]

If it's an older game, I'd say check it on GOG first. Most game studios are scared to death from releasing a game DRM free, but there are always a few surprises every year, like Staler 2, Baldur's Gate 3, and the original Horizon Zero Dawn.

[@robintst]

If it's a game on Steam that's frequently on sale there but I can also get it on GOG where it's hardly ever on sale, I'll pay the full GOG price if it means I own it DRM-free. The only things on Steam I give a pass for anymore is indie developers because that's usually their only sensible means of distribution and it's important to support the ones who really put the work in and have a love for this medium.

[@Falsechicken]

What's funny is that this is also going to help ensure that pirated copies circulate and run just fine xD. No skin off GOG's back. It was gonna support customers anyway without the revenue from sales.

[@asturides]

The GOG preservation program is great. I didn't know Warcraft was getting delisted and I have it on my wishlist, will buy it ASAP. Thanks for the info.

[@utherpendragon4227]

Loyal GoG customer here, own so many legacy games there and will continue to buy from them and not steam. They brought back my first edition dnd goldbox, and I have every version of the infinity engine that it’s possible to buy. And heroes and dozens more.

[@tictacterminator]

There's some gems, NWN2, Icewind Dale 2, HOMM3 Complete and Hero Chronicles. But because of their Amazon Luna partnership they refuse to support GOG Galaxy 2 on Arch Linux or Steam OS. And with Windows 10 support coming to an end I'm switching to Linux and I feel annoyed at GOG for forcing me to use Heroic on Steam Deck. I want to play the games I bought with the same level of convenience. There was a time when support for old games was a lot more rare? I dont have the same fear of games disappearing that I used to, and frankly, I regret not just keeping everything on Steam now that Linux is becoming king in gaming.

[@XzaroX]

3:41 It's not just about keys. GOG cannot sell anything without publisher's approval. They'd be sued for copyright infringement if they did not comply lol.

[@mimszanadunstedt441]

Maybe operating at the 'whims of investors and ceos' isn't great long term, hmmmm.

[@smilosabercat]

Thank you. Just purchased that bundle while still available. Great advertisement for GOG. Liked both those games and did not have them...

[@tapejara1507]

Gog was based 15 years ago still selling old CD games, already outdated back then, for small coin....and its still based today in an effort to get old gems out there and preserve them. I respect them alot. I gotta use their store more.

[@micheleosullivan4430]

I'm a user of both GOG and Steam, with a larger game collection on Steam due to the longevity of my account and larger content available. Although GOG is newer, I tend to check it first because I appreciate their store policies more. Unfortunately, publishers still hold the misguided belief that DRM is an effective deterrent to piracy.

[@devnom9143]

I could see GOG taking a larger market share if they joined hands with Itchio, though they'd likely need/want to flag which games are Itchio style games likely as 'Community' while the more traditional catalog remains under the regular 'Games' moniker; The distinction between 'Community' works & 'regular' works is one that is fairly common for Webcomic platforms that support user created series in addition to the series that they license

[@someguy4252]

not a bad idea. if they could somehow encorage game modifcation then old retrogames will eat even more of the modern games lunch.

[@nathanielbass771]

funny but bad naming idea: Itchy GoG as an add-on. Itch does have its own launcher already though.

[@Shajirr_]

From now on I'll be following a new rule - if the devs delist an original to sell a remaster, I am never paying for the remaster and will be either pirating it or skipping it if its not cracked.

[@qwesx]

As a Linux user I (obviously and ironically) prefer buying games from GOG. Their Linux support is terrible, yet their games can just be installed automatically by third party launchers. Those launchers launch in the background in a second, don't log into some account or check licenses for anything and immediately start up the game. I don't even notice that there's some launcher running because it's hidden and immediately exits after the game is closed. When using Steam and starting a game from the application menu it first loads Steam and logs into my account (which takes a relative eternity), launches the game and afterwards doesn't even have the option to shut down again. Also I can't disable game updates if I don't like the direction where a game is going. If a game I want is on GOG then I buy that -even though they clearly don't give a rat's ass about Linux. I have even bought second copies of Steam games when they become available on GOG at a discount. Even though Valve is a huge contributor to wine/proton which enables me to play Windows games on Linux in the first places: I value owning a license to a game over being able to play games nearly perfectly on an officially unsupported operating system. It's a damn shame.

[@tappy8741]

As a Linux user I went the opposite way, because as you say gog's Linux support is terrible. I don't think either of us is wrong. I think gog is wrong to have such poor Linux support, they must realise that Linux users on average care more about freedom to use the software they have, so are more likely to purchase on gog all other things being equal. But we're a smaller piece of the pie so that's not enough probably. Valve on the other hand, they've enabled me to play games hassle-free on my platform of choice, and with the steamdeck are helping Linux adoption which may eventually change the status quo. When I buy a game they deserve the distribution cut. Worst comes to worst (steam dies and nukes my account), I'm not particularly bothered about whether technically I own the license to a game, because when push comes to shove I'm going to play the games I've paid for one way or another.

[@whytho1690]

"Also I can't disable game updates if I don't like the direction where a game is going." This part is annoying. Don't know why one *_HAS_* to update something like a single player game.

[@EvenTheDogAgrees]

@@whytho1690 Dang, you're right! I always thought you could turn those updates off if you want to; there's a menu entry for that. Just never felt a need to. But I just checked, and indeed, the only options are to always keep the game up to date, only update when you launch it, or give it priority over other games when multiple games have updates available. There's no option to turn it off, or roll back to a previous release. Bummer. That said, I'm on Linux as well, and I prefer Steam. There was a point, back when my Steam collection was still rather small, where I was considering going to GOG for their stance on DRM. Especially when they announced their Galaxy client, which would also get a Linux port a bit after the Windows (and I believe Mac too?) ports. Automatic updates instead of having to check their site, cloud saves, those are QOL features I got used to with Steam, and I was looking forward to get the same on a DRM-free platform. But they kept putting the Linux port of Galaxy off, and eventually cancelled it altogether. Since then they've also been terrible about Linux support for their games; tons of DOSBox games, or games that would work great on Wine, are not getting Linux releases anymore. While it would be trivial to do so since they already do the same for Mac. So I decided that if they don't care about me as a customer, I don't care about them as a seller, and expanded my Steam collection instead. Right now sitting at over 400 Linux compatible titles in my Steam account. So at this point, odds of me ever switching to Gog as my main platform are vanishingly small. They'd have to start treating me as a first rate citizen within their ecosystem, and on top, offer to transfer all of my Steam titles that are also available on their storefront, in order for me to even consider it. They drove me away, and by now I'm so far past the horizon that it would take extreme effort on their part for me to turn around and spend my money in their city instead of Gabe's.

[@qwesx]

@@EvenTheDogAgrees > I always thought you could turn those updates off if you want to; there's a menu entry for that. It was possible to do that until... some years ago when that option was removed. > So I decided that if they don't care about me as a customer, I don't care about them as a seller, and expanded my Steam collection instead. It's actually even worse. Not only do they openly not care about Linux users they clearly don't care about their Windows customers as much as Valve does either. If you buy a game that's very regularly updated but not particularly popular then you'll find that the GOG version will sometimes noticeably lag behind the Steam version. From what I read it's because there needs to be an installer package made (instead of just pushing the game data to the cloud) and that also needs some sort of verification by GOG themselves which is not super high on their priority list on games that don't sell as well. That info is a few years old though, so maybe that changed.

[@qwesx]

@@tappy8741 I read that their sales aren't particularly good even for the main (Windows) audience so they might simply need to focus their resources on more immediate issues than a client for a crowd who already wrote their own installer GUIs. > Worst comes to worst (steam dies and nukes my account), I'm not particularly bothered about whether technically I own the license to a game, because when push comes to shove I'm going to play the games I've paid for one way or another. 😎👍🦜

[@holobucket7626]

the steam ecosystem is the selling point of steam. Achievements, badges, steam points, the workshop, the Steam Deck, etc. If you can’t replicate that then the best GOG can do is fill the holes in steam’s marketplace with the old games that Steam aren’t selling

[@bramvanduijn8086]

I don't care about the Steam badges or steam points, the workshop is nice though. Haven't got a Steam Deck. Mind control (AKA marketing, because if you make money you're not allowed to call it social engineering for some reason) is how Steam gets me.

[@zakhoskins6404]

Fast downloads and wide selection are the selling points of Steam. Most people could give a crap less about achievements and badges, and there are better versions of handhelds than the Steam Deck and plenty of mod sites besides the Workshop. You can't beat Steam, you can only force a hostile takeover. I do worry the (((Powers that Be))) will try that one day because Gabe is just too damn honest and I'm stunned he's made it this far. Maybe Gabe losing isn't in God's permissive will.

[@SimuLord]

Bingo. I've been using Steam for 15 years. I lived on the streets of Seattle in the fall of 2013, using a laptop a friend had loaned me to look for a job, and when I was stuck in a Starbucks or the public library all day, the only way I could play games was to have them digitally. I completely dropped my objection to the "ownership" debate because to me it was a mental-health lifesaver, and I'm really not as bothered as most people about the utterly spurious "iF bUyInG iSn'T oWnInG" argument. You pay your money to agree to the terms offered. If you don't like it, nobody's got a dagger to your throat, you can do something else for fun.

[@edelzocker8169]

GOG also has this stuff (at least the good parts)

[@stevenglowacki8576]

One reason I like buying games on Switch is that it DOES NOT have achievements. I absolutely detest achievements. I don't want to be told when I did something of merit. I don't play games to do that. I play games to have fun how I want to have fun.

[@dnakatomiuk]

GOG Galaxy is now my 2nd launcher that I'm happy to support, Steam will be my main because everyone uses it but I'm collecting the games I never thought I'd see again on pc. Downside is publishers won't put it on GOG because of the preservation scheme

[@IncognitoActivado]

Pass; piracy and windows xp is better.

[@balsalmalberto8086]

Herioc Launcher > Gog Galaxy. Herioc natively runs on all platforms and also supports Epic and Amazon games.

[@red5standingby419]

If only the galaxy launcher wasn't such a piece of shit I'd use it too.

[@DragonOfTheMortalKombat]

@@red5standingby419 what's wrong with that launcher ? You don't need it anyways. Far better than Epic or Rockstar's launcher.

[@premiumfruits3528]

They won't put it on GoG because they know how easy it is to pirate. Google "[game name] gog download" and stop drinking the commie koolaid. Everything put on GoG immediately becomes free to anyone with an iq north of 80.

[@cvernon5256]

I didn't know the no DRM what's a major component of gog. I've spent most of my time on Steam simply because that's where I started playing. That's awesome information. thank you for the heads up.

[@FlamingNinjaBoi]

The policy to allow you to keep downloading and playing games that get removed is super cool. I have a handful of games on my Steam account that I REALLY like a lot that I occasionally return to, but are no longer able to be purchased on Steam for one reason or another. But I can still play them! They still have achievements, and even trading cards I think. It's a neat pro consumer mechanism.

[@thewhitefalcon8539]

This will end in 2030.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

That has always been the policy with GOG except for a few rare exceptions due to them not having the rights to make the sale in the first place. Which doesn't happen very often and mostly applies to older games when somebody comes out of the woodwork with rights to some portion of the game or has rights to the game in some region.

[@WoutervanderMeulen]

@@thewhitefalcon8539 What is happening in 2030?

[@Hhuespe]

@@WoutervanderMeulen He is probably talking about the 2030 agenda, the "you will own nothing and be happy" nonsense

[@WoutervanderMeulen]

@@Hhuespe Ah yes, the "all commercial jurisdictions around the world will magically align overnight" agenda.

[@augustvalek]

yeah, it's a shame I can't buy all my games on GOG, but I'd rather miss out on a good game than just pay for a rental disguised as a purchase

[@DA7274]

I’m saving up to build a PC in 2025, I’m so glad I found your channel for info like this.

[@GugureSux]

I welcome you to the master race in advance! Just don't make a mistake of purchasing "top of the line" crap most modern e-celeb try to shill you. I've never paid more than 1000€ for my entire system, and I usually upgrade a component or two overy 5-7 years for mere 200-250 bucks, tops.

[@DA7274]

@ while true before Moore’s law is quickly running out of room. Quantum mechanics start to be be a major factor at small enough scales (think sub 5 nanometers) before fully supplanting Newtonian physics at the atomic scale. We’re pushing transistors to the width of DNA (2.5nanometers). So anything around 3nm should be sufficient for gaming for the next few decades. Cause any tech that go sub 2.5 nm is gonna be microwave first hitting the selfs levels of expensive (over 10k)

[@maxinac]

Thank you!

[@theoctobear5765]

GoG is quickly becoming my preferred platform. They should really humiliate blizzard and put WC3 on there. No one wants reforged.

[@igorthelight]

They literally can't - Blizzard didn't gave them the rights to do so

[@edelzocker8169]

@@igorthelight But we can build up pressure by demanding it in the GOG-Wishlist (there are 18.600 GOG users wanting original WC3) I personaly don't care because I paid 60€ to get an original german DVD bundle with Reign Of Chaos and Frozen Throne in it and it looks better than Reforged after force enableing FSR...

[@ainumahtar]

@@edelzocker8169 WC3 and Frozen throne are in my dvd rack, even had to replace my frozen throne at some point because the disc was too worn and scratched to be used properly.

[@theoctobear5765]

@@igorthelight Yeah I heard that in video. I hadn't gotten to that part yet and didn't know they were pulling WC1&2 at the end of Dec.

[@roymarron7622]

"I don't think there will be any more changes to the way our computers work" ARM based processors and light transistor looking him from the corner 😂

[@Sorain1]

There is a point to be said about hardware compatibility, but having the new work with the hold (with minimum issues) is a very high value goal for money reasons, so it's likely to not be too bad. At least initially.

[@rbrosz]

Considering all the game consoles are also using x86 (except Nintendo) I don't see this being an issue anytime soon.

[@username7763]

Just wait until Windows removes 32-bit support. Apple already did it, so it is just a matter of time when Microsoft will copy. You'll have to buy your software all over again from the Microsoft Store!

[@TheMisterBerry]

Oh my god Freelancer. What a great game. I'm glad I still have the disc version so I can still install it :)

[@igorthelight]

Don't forget to fully patch it and then install a Community Patch. It's mandatory for modern systems ;-)

[@TheMisterBerry]

@@igorthelight Oh 1000%, yes. Lol Almost always install the Discovery mod while you're at it :D

[@adiamondforever7890]

@@TheMisterBerry I had to shut my Freelancer server when my server’s database got corrupted. Never could correct the problem. Upgraded to Win 7, and couldn’t get it to work, but that was some years ago. Might need to refresh my knowledge of the FL universe. Have fun

[@nebylicza]

My algorithm for acquiring games has been the same for like the last 15 years: 1. Get it of GOG. 2. If not available, get it of Steam. 3. If not available, torrent it. I’m not gonna gamble my money with other shit launchers and publishers that revoke bought licenses.

[@Exoskel2]

I already dont trust steam. So it is either gog or pirate for me

[@nebylicza]

@ yeah, I mean that Steam is at least a good experience and they don’t seem to abuse the fact that you don’t own anything. Yet.

[@Exoskel2]

@@nebylicza I already be wary of them

[@octavionicolini]

4:27 Ubisoft and The Crew won't agree with that.

[@shabath]

At this point, why would anyone care what they think?

[@octavionicolini]

@shabath well tell that to all the people who's The Crew was erased from all their gaming libraries because Ubisoft decided to close the servers without removing the always online requirements of s perfectly offline playable game. The Crew is lost media right now, even if you paid for it.

[@MRFlackAttack1]

I think if GOG leaned into the modding scene. If they made their platform more compatible with popular mod managers, that would be a definite win. Steam has Workshop, but if GOG made their launcher work with Nexus and other modding platforms, that’s a market they could corner.

[@budderk1305]

this here is one big reason why Steam is ahead of gog, it enables a very smooth and easy way to install and distribute mods for many games

[@Hexagonaldonut]

This is actually one of the main things that stops me from using GOG, is of the games I do play, I tend to play heavily with mods, and if they're on GOG they rely on Steam Workshop, and if they don't rely on Steam Workshop they're not on GOG.

[@escapegulag4317]

starting moving to GOG moths ago. I know that one day steam will just pull the rug on us, because they will not be able to resist blackrock forever.

[@arcadeportal32]

I am always worried about the day Gaben is no longer part of Valve & gets sold off to someone horrific... like Microsoft..

[@VerGiLL1]

You can remove the Steam integration from every Steam game you have that dosen't have a 3rd party launcher or aditional DRM (Denuvo) within seconds. Sure, the tools aren't from Valve, but they already exist.

[@escapegulag4317]

@@arcadeportal32 yep! thats why we should probably hord our stuff somewhere because mainstream tech want to take their products back from us. in their mind it is perfectly fine to sell a product and then take it away later.

[@krisk2710]

@@VerGiLL1 what tools? interested to know more

[@escapegulag4317]

@@VerGiLL1 would love to learn about it my guy.

[@tylerdotapp]

the real diffrence between steam and every other platform is being able to easily play almost any game with friends without any headache or being able to stream your library from anywhere if your computer is on. you can literally stream a game in multiplayer mode from a friends computer and both play the same game in split screen through steam

[@username7763]

Cannot you do this if you add the GOG game to steam? Its been a while since I did streaming but I thought that worked.

[@oflameo8927]

Until you are locked out of your account.Then you lose all of your library and your friends, instantly.

[@tylerdotapp]

@@oflameo8927 in what sense? by Valve?

[@oflameo8927]

@@tylerdotapp Yes!

[@tylerdotapp]

@@oflameo8927 well it hasnt happened in the last 13yrs

[@justinmarkwilliams]

Ive been using GOG alot more recently... older games are better than much of what comes out today. no always online, no DRM, no microtransactions, no preaching ideology and no pay to win crap

[@notmirelnam248]

Same here. I also have PCSX2 on my computer and I've been playing more PS2 games lately.

[@ZeroStako]

Incredibly petty of Blizzard. I was going to buy the remasters, but now, I've reconsidered.

[@whytho1690]

I don't remember the details but I heard the remaster just isn't quite the same as the originals, and there were some that preferred they just bring back the option for the originals.

[@a_trauma_llama2991]

I try to buy the game on GOG first, and download the full copy for a backup. When I was working remote (no cell limited satellite) even though Steam had an offline mode, it occasionally blocked you until you connected and I couldn't. So GOG became my default go to and steam my second. I don't use Galaxy but some friends and fam do and quite like it.

[@decwow]

The selling point of GoG over steam, is that GoG insures that the game continues to work. You get no such assurances with Steam. That little extra you're paying on GoG is worth it.. and to be blunt, compared to what we're all out here having to spend on a daily basis, it's trivial.

[@AclypseOfReason]

Strange. AAA games aren’t selling well comparative to their budgets and I am drooling over GOGs library. I will be buying lots of older games before I even look at Star Wars Outlaws or Starfield. How did games get worse over time? New games have no soul.

[@theanimer1]

Dei and these idiot companies not hiring talent is what happened. Doesn't matter how much money you shove into something. If the people making it are crap. The product is crap.

[@ainumahtar]

AAA games today are mostly just slightly better looking versions of the game(s) they already made, most major publishers are utterly terrified of releasing anything new, just like hollywood. Everything needs to be produced to be a 'safe' return on investment or it just does not get made. It would help if 70% of gamers didn't just mindlessly buy the new battlefield, fifa, cod etc. but I doubt that will change anytime soon, and until that changes, we're going to have to look at indie devs to make good games.

[@nathanielbass771]

Basically, there are so many problems that people started "forgetting" how bad some things are or just never had time to notice in the first place. As an example, say you buy Pokemon for your kid, the kids who played the originals may not have time to "play" the latest stuff now that they are working, never noticing that the content is bleeding them dry for nothing. To be fair though, Pokemon was apparently always a scummy business model but as kids we never noticed what they were doing to us. Now, companies are including "standard" features as DLC only...

[@WombatDave]

@@theanimer1 Adding to that the fact that the development cycle for modern games tends to be: Make game, Sell game, Fire 95% of the people who made the game and replace them with people who cost less money. This means you end up with studios where no one knows what they're doing. If you look at the credits for, say, Super Mario Bros, SMB3, and Super Mario World, the team expanded, but just about everyone who worked on the original worked on both sequels, and the people who joined the team for SMB3 were still there for World. These people had time to develop their skills and talents, and once the game released, they were on to the next. That's not how the modern AAA industry functions anymore, and so games get worse.

[@legendcat8913]

I was a devout GOG Galaxy user as soon as it came out, I think I even Beta tested it. When I switched to Linux I was astonished to find that this “one launcher, for everything, everywhere” didn’t work AT ALL on Linux. And that ever since Witcher 1 CD Project Red has sworn off supporting Linux due to some petty feud (ie bug reports), Sure I can use Heroic to download and play the games, but it doesn’t have cloud save or like any wider Quality of Life features. Besides Valve is the #1 power pushing for gaming to even work on Linux competitively. I value owning games over not owning them, but I value actually being able to play them over the most. Hence I shop at Steam.

[@ChronicNOTAG]

This is a very fair point, and a valuable view on the discussion at hand.

[@Dorrovian]

GOG Galaxy holds together with chewing gum and prayers to be honest. I have ended running GOG games though Steam to have pad support for my PS pads.

[@Hexagonaldonut]

@@Dorrovian On the one hand, what software ISN'T held together like that? On the other, yeah, this kind of goes back to that whole thing of Steam itself as a service being much better on every front that ISN'T DRM. It's kind of the reason attempts to usurp it have unanimously failed.

[@rghddvh]

Piracy isn't stealing if buying don't mean owning

[@edelzocker8169]

It is copyright infringement because you can not steal something that is not an object but it is only copyright infringement if the company behind it goes directly after you. :-) AND can proof you have done it.

[@rghddvh]

So gog is best at all? Real ownership and real buy is only in there.

[@AgrimarYT]

@@rghddvh With GoG using the standard license approach, redistribution of game files is copyright infringement and upon revocation of your license would imply that you must delete said files though none of it is enforced (such as in the case of a refund for example).

[@Illiminator31]

Piss of with that bullshit copy pasta

[@edelzocker8169]

@@Illiminator31 Is something wrong with the truth? :-)

[@alexchichigin]

I was buying on GOG even before Steam blocked me from purchasing anything. So now it's not even a choice. 😏

[@TokenOracle]

The subtitle at 2:30 says "ZA/UM's Shattering", not "Blizzard Said No".

[@Sergalt]

hmmm could it be some spoilers for another video ? I've heard that there were some Drama w with like 3 or 4 teams that are doing Disco like game, i'm not sure if Bellular covered it.

[@Yuusou.]

@@Sergalt they covered it in the past already. Hence, it's very weird to read that now.

[@TokenOracle]

@@Yuusou. yeah it's probably just they used a video format thing that had that text previously and they just forgot to change it.

[@larkendelvie]

Bellular -- we will never be past the time of outdated systems. I can guarantee in 20 years gaming systems will be drastically changed. I own GOG games -- they are old games not available on Steam. This actually is a publisher problem, when the publishers don't want to spend money supporting old games they force their own customers to go looking for a playable copy of their favorite games. One thing to remember - electronic gaming is still very young in the entertainment industry.

[@eightcoins4401]

And in the case of Blizzard, its atleast games where the publishers still exist. There's alot of non avaible games that no one legally owns anymore you can't play unless someone bothered to crack it ages ago.

[@zeropen0719]

I had a friend(that banned me for this) telling me he never cared for DRM-free or GOG ownership or games going 80 euros on europe (84 dollars),people are just bitching and gaming is a luxury and not a hobbie (forgets indie games),openly saying if the game is not on Steam he will never buy it and all other stores are nothing and nobody cares........but I do? GOG is focusing on Legacy Games and onwership and I love that,when a game is both on GOG and Steam I get it on GOG,big mistake of me to not check Baldurs Gate 3 on there when I forgot how pro consumer Larian is. GOG is not trying to compete with Steam,it tries to bring something on the table that could make them a good competition for people that want indie games or legacy games,the only reason I have a GOG account was because Cyberpunk and Witcher on pc on third party stores keys were only on GOG and I was sad I couldnt use Steam,now tell that younger self of mine how lucky he is for that and I love it,I saw STALKER 2 and some other games I want to get on GOG too and wishlist them and waiting for a sale as I need to spot buying games now lol.

[@eightcoins4401]

GOG is always gonna have a place just for how terrible most retro titles are on steam. Usually need lots of fan patches and troubleshooting. Meanwhile on GOG it works "out of the box".

[@FindStrelok]

With the war on ownership of software and really, anything in general, I started to check if a game is available on GOG before Steam a few years back. Being able to download the offline installer is super convenient and the DRM-free aspect gives me peace of mind.