GOG Connect. Giving you the DRM-free versions of Steam games

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MorgothPl

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So, GOG Connect just launched. Basically it's a feature that checks your Steam account. Any viable games, that you have on Steam, will be added - free of charge - to your GOG account. The aviable titles do change from time to time, but once you claimed your game, it stays in GOG library forever.

Looks cool, but right now, I'm having problems connecting my accounts. Seems a lot of people do that now :)

Introducing GOG Connect - GOG.com
 
when is GOG Galaxy going to leave beta status?...it's been in beta forever...it works fine although the UI feels a bit no frills
 
MorgothPl said:
So, GOG Connect just launched. Basically it's a feature that checks your Steam account. Any viable games, that you have on Steam, will be added - free of charge - to your GOG account. The aviable titles do change from time to time, but once you claimed your game, it stays in GOG library forever.

Looks cool, but right now, I'm having problems connecting my accounts. Seems a lot of people do that now :)

Introducing GOG Connect - GOG.com
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So I can take a game that auto-updates on Steam without having to lift a finger, and move them to GOG where they'll never get auto updated, and instead I'd have to clumsily download multiple zip or rar files and install or update manually.

Unfortunately GOG is going to continue going nowhere even with these gimmicks and attempts at getting something - anything - going by nipping at Steam's heels. Commercial publishers will never support GOG so long as there's no DRM.
 
DPI said:
So I can take a game that auto-updates on Steam without having to lift a finger, and move them to GOG where they'll never get auto updated, and instead I'd have to clumsily download multiple zip or rar files and install or update manually.

Unfortunately GOG is going to continue going nowhere even with these gimmicks that attempt to nip at Steam's heels. Commercial publishers will never support GOG so long as there's no DRM.
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GOG Galaxy is a thing.
 
Derangel said:
GOG Galaxy is a thing.
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Sure if you don't mind a buggy, perpetual beta, yet-another-downloader on your PC that has practically no games. They've been promising it'll be a thing for years now.
 
DPI said:
Sure if you don't mind a buggy, perpetual beta, yet-another-downloader on your PC that has practically no games. They've been promising it'll be a thing for years now.
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While I don't disagree with your point (in your previous post), you can't say that they have practically no games. Maybe practically no games you're interested in, but they have a ton of games.
 
DPI said:
So I can take a game that auto-updates on Steam without having to lift a finger, and move them to GOG where they'll never get auto updated, and instead I'd have to clumsily download multiple zip or rar files and install or update manually.

Unfortunately GOG is going to continue going nowhere even with these gimmicks and attempts at getting something - anything - going by nipping at Steam's heels. Commercial publishers will never support GOG so long as there's no DRM.
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you really need to try GOG Galaxy...I never used GOG until Galaxy became available as I didn't want to be bothered with rar files and manual patching...in principle having multiple publisher exclusive clients is annoying but in reality they all work fine for me (yes even Uplay)...GOG has a lot of games and they are all DRM free
 
"Looking for eligible games. Due to exceedingly high demand this may take up to several days, please check back later. Thank you for your patience." :D
 
DPI said:
So I can take a game that auto-updates on Steam without having to lift a finger, and move them to GOG where they'll never get auto updated, and instead I'd have to clumsily download multiple zip or rar files and install or update manually.

Unfortunately GOG is going to continue going nowhere even with these gimmicks and attempts at getting something - anything - going by nipping at Steam's heels. Commercial publishers will never support GOG so long as there's no DRM.
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That could actually be a good thing in some cases where you like to mod your game heavily, having steam auto update the game and screw over your mod installs could cause a hassle.

You could leave the steam version of the game clean mod free then mod the GOG version as much as you want.
 
GOG Galaxy has been working well enough (though a Linux client can't come soon enough!) for "general" usage, and GOG has a lot of games these days. GOG Connect is worthwhile, but its too bad that it isn't for ANY game on GOG that is also on Steam. The existing library listed is a bit limited... for instanced, Mount and Blade is listed, but Mount and Blade Warband (ie the better in every way version that everyone plays) is not. The Witcher 1 is listed, but not The Witcher 2, both of which are developed by the same team behind GOG!

GOG Connect should be lauded and takes steps to deal with a major issue - namely, that your libraries on Steam and GOG are not connected, you often have to choose between the two (ie you get a Steam key OR a GOG key etc), you can't play together in many cases (though Galaxy and Connect will apparently help a little) etc... but sadly, they still lag behind. Steam has built up an amazing integrated community structure and feature set. Many think it is "DRM" that brings publishers to Steam, but it isn't accurate. Sure, some publishers add their own DRM or whatnot (as is often listed on Steam), but Steamworks titles allow users to have the community (including forum), achievements, trading cards, Workshop mod repository, Cloud game saves and perhaps even all matchmaking/multiplayer backbones! I've seen some titles, like Dying Light Enhanced Edition, it means you would have to lose multiplayer with Steam owners of the title, and all the above (including Workshop).

This is the crux of the issue. I would like to see more interoperation between GOG and Steam, but it will come down to how much each company wants to support regarding a possible competitor, and developers to make decisions on what to support. I really dislike seeing this sort of thing and would rather see more of a Humble approach (which is more like a key-reseller, but also hosting direct download versions of some titles. If Humble had a Galaxy-like client and full Steam integration etc.... that would be great). GOG can continue to push for a parity experience through the Steam API and I hope they do..
 
Xaeos said:
Many think it is "DRM" that brings publishers to Steam, but it isn't accurate. Sure, some publishers add their own DRM or whatnot (as is often listed on Steam), but Steamworks titles allow users to have the community (including forum), achievements, trading cards, Workshop mod repository, Cloud game saves and perhaps even all matchmaking/multiplayer backbones!
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Sorry, wrong. DRM is >> 100% << of why publishers choose Steam and avoid GOG like the plague. DRM is completely optional to publishers on Steam - it's a toggle when publishing a title in the store, and it is the publishers that unanimously choose to enable it, not Valve like many believe.

Steamworks is a separate issue and no doubt it bolsters Steam's overall value offering, but it's hardly the "crux of the issue".
 
How is DRM optional on steam? It requires steam to verify and download. Steam is DRM in and of itself. Now, they can add more DRM on top of that, and they do, like Denuvo, but that doesn't make Steam any less of a DRM, just a more easily bypassed one.

That said, I'm sure DRM is one of the reasons. The other is that Steam is the market on PCs now. It's like the Walmart of internet game distribution.
 
GOG Galaxy auto updates The Witcher 3, which is great. It has just as much functionality as Origin I've found. That's a nice leap into the foray w/o being overly heavy on the fluff.

I hope that GOG Connect works even with a delay. I may wind up using GOG Galaxy more often than Steam...
 
pothb said:
How is DRM optional on steam? It requires steam to verify and download. Steam is DRM in and of itself. Now, they can add more DRM on top of that, and they do, like Denuvo, but that doesn't make Steam any less of a DRM, just a more easily bypassed one.

That said, I'm sure DRM is one of the reasons. The other is that Steam is the market on PCs now. It's like the Walmart of internet game distribution.
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Steam is a game downloader, and only becomes DRM if the publisher chooses Steamworks CEG (Custom Executable Generation) when they publish a game to that marketplace. However, Valve has no requirement for games to use the Steam launcher in order to be sold in their marketplace.

If the publisher chooses not to enable DRM when publishing the game to steam's marketplace, then the game can be copied freely to another location and can be run launcher-free. There's a pretty big list of these titles:

List of DRM-free games

The Big List of DRM-Free Games on Steam | PCGamingWiki

Again, publishers avoid GOG strictly because of lack of DRM, not because Steam is "Walmart". Publishers would have no reason to avoid GOG otherwise, it'd be an additional distro channel for their games - there would be no downside.
 
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Huh, I thought incorporating steamworks automatically applies the Steam DRM. Interesting.
 
I think we overall agree that "Steam is not DRM" in and of itself, an error many make. However, assuming you don't consider CD Key checks meaningful "DRM", I don't think the option to include such DRM is the main reason why GOG is currently a less popular platform than Steam, from the developer perspective. I grant that a handful of developers may be focused on DRM or some sort of restriction (ie Ubisoft and Rockstar / GTA5 demand the use of their own launcher, even if you have the title on Steam. Not DRM, but in these cases it has to do with the individual community/social/achievements/points features that these games require, independent of Steam. ) but we're in an era where additional DRM is at a record low. This is for a number of reasons, but suffice it to say I can't imagine that DRM is a major deciding factor for most developers.

Rather, the reason to choose Steam and not others is because of A) all those features I listed above, which give the game added value and save them money and B) it adds cost and complexity to sell the game somewhere else where those features will have to be added from another source. GOG isn't like selling on Humble, Amazon, GreenManGaming or elsewhere. It isn't just another vendor that sells the same keys that activate on Steam. Its a separate system entirely, and seems to be somewhat incompatible. And right now, if users and developers alike compare Steam vs GOG the winner is clear. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of GOG and I've had little problem with GOG Galaxy providing a smooth update service for all my The Witcher titles (which is "best" on GOG due to being developed by the same. and a handful of others, but if I had to choose an (incompatible) key between Steam and GOG i'd pick the former. GOG and Steam both taking steps to bridge compatibility is definitely a plus, but GOG doesn't provide the complete suite of features for either developers or players that Steam offers; as of yet, anyway. I believe it would be beneficial for everyone involved if there could be a more universal system for sharing communities/achievements/accounts and games themselves, and things like GOG Connect or whatever they call the Cross-Play-Between-GOG-And-Steam are nice steps...but a long way to go.

There's much more desirable about Steam than just being more open to DRM and required launchers. Its huge install base (a la the "Walmart" element), tons of features like those I listed above, and the various developer/publisher friendly tools to tap into them make it a great primary sales venue. DRM may play a role for a minority of publishing decisions, but it seems very likely that for the vast majority Steam is more alluring for other reasons.
 
pothb said:
Huh, I thought incorporating steamworks automatically applies the Steam DRM. Interesting.
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Well Steamworks CEG (Custom Executable Generation) is DRM. The point was that Steamworks CEG is completely optional to publishers.

Meaning if a company just wants to sell a game that gets downloaded and installed by Steam with an original unmodified executable and game files that don't require the steam launcher when running the game, they're free to do that.

Most publishers obviously choose the Steamworks CEG route however, but a lot of people assume it's by some sort of Valve mandate, and/or that it's Valve dictating DRM on publishers as a requirement for selling games on Steam.
 
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Bottom line: GOG's biggest problem and the reason they can't gain any traction even after many years is not about Steam's popularity. Their biggest problem is publishers insisting on DRM.
 
Thanks for this, got some games redeemed on GoG.

While I don't mind keeping my games on Steam, it's good to have a hassle free copy.
 
DPI said:
Bottom line: GOG's biggest problem and the reason they can't gain any traction even after many years is not about Steam's popularity. Their biggest problem is publishers insisting on DRM.
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GOG is doing fine...I'm sure just with Witcher 3 alone it got tons of users...it's pretty much on par with Uplay and Origin (probably even more popular then either of them)
 
polonyc2 said:
GOG is doing fine...I'm sure just with Witcher 3 alone it got tons of users...it's pretty much on par with Uplay and Origin (probably even more popular then either of them)
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"Doing fine" by what metric? Are they suddenly attracting name publishers? Finally attracting more AA and AAA titles? Or is that just a personal feeling not based on anything but wishful thinking?

And "more popular than UPlay/Origin" is delusional.
 
Depends on what they meant by "more popular"

total user base, is clearly dominated by origin, they prob have more users just from The Sims series user base alone lol.

But maybe they meant by popular opinion of which service they prefer, and there are some origin/uplay haters out there. Tho personally i have nothing bad to say about either platform, and EA/Origin always give out free games randomly or from beta/alpha testing some times so there are some good things about Origin.

I always have origin, and steam running in the background, uplay not so much since i don't really have that many games for it, and the only GOG game i own is the witcher 3.
 
Honestly, I'd have to see their metrics but especially given what they're trying to do, it wouldn't surprise me if they're doing equal or better to any "general client/store" aside from Steam. Origin and UPlay are focused on big-name titles from their 1st party publishers Yes ,they sell 3rd party keys but often some of those have to activate on Steam or GOG (ie I saw Dying Light Enhanced Edition sold via UPlay, but requires Steam to activate etc). Most of their profits come from their plethora of 1st party, launcher required titles like Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Battlefield, EA Sports, Sims, Tom Clancy titles, Assassin's Creed,and other series, and generally are run by 2 of the biggest mega-publishers in the industry. This doesn't make them a good comparison for GOG, which has The Witcher titles but aside from that makes most of their money selling 3rd party titles. I doubt that many people go out of their way to purchase on UPlay or Origin for titles that do not require that platform. These vendors rarely offer worthwhile sales and users generally prefer a limited amount of proprietary launchers. Buying keys for Steam or GOG directly, or through various resellers (ie Most of The Witcher games were GOG keys) is probably more attractive. GOG has attracted a variety of higher profile titles, but besides their older titles, they seem to have most of the "First Run Indie" titles which can really add up in profitability, so I don't doubt that outside of Steam they are one of the strongest in the market (save for possibly Humble, but they don't offer client/community features just direct downloads, so I consider them the top tier of the key reseller type)

To improve further they really need to push GOG Connect to apply for all titles between bound accounts, Steam-Cross-Play, and allow a similar UI to grant Galaxy achievements and Steam ones etc... essentially ensuring that users can get near to if not a complete parity experience; an expanded SteamAPI may help in this regard. This is beneficial for Valve as well, especially facing up against The Windows Store / Microsoft and 3rd party clients like Origin etc... as working with a quasi-competitor that shares some of the same values will help to strengthen those values and unify the community. Steam and GOG users alike took sharp aim at the Windows Store releases of titles with inaccessible game files, sold like obfuscated "apps" for instance, and Valve and GOG are both supporting Linux etc. Giving up a tiny bit of control to have GOG users look favorably upon Steam and vice versa may be very lucrative in the coming years, for all involved.
 
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Xaeos said:
To improve further they really need to push GOG Connect to apply for all titles between bound accounts, Steam-Cross-Play, and allow a similar UI to grant Galaxy achievements and Steam ones etc... essentially ensuring that users can get near to if not a complete parity experience; an expanded SteamAPI may help in this regard. This is beneficial for Valve as well, especially facing up against The Windows Store / Microsoft and 3rd party clients like Origin etc... as working with a quasi-competitor that shares some of the same values will help to strengthen those values and unify the community. Steam and GOG users alike took sharp aim at the Windows Store releases of titles with inaccessible game files, sold like obfuscated "apps" for instance, and Valve and GOG are both supporting Linux etc. Giving up a tiny bit of control to have GOG users look favorably upon Steam and vice versa may be very lucrative in the coming years, for all involved.
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That is bananas level of wishful thinking, no offense. You do understand that it is publishers that hold the copyright to games - and therefore decide which marketplace their games are sold in - and not Valve? In other words Valve has no legal authority to decide which games "GOG Connect" supports, aside from their own firstparty titles obviously.

GOG's 500lb gorilla is not Valve/Steam. It is convincing publishers that DRM isn't necessary, and they've gone nowhere on that front. Thus GOG's Top50 continues to be Witcher titles + Indie's and pretty much nothing else.
 
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Why the fuck is it every time GoG and Steam get mentioned at the same time, it has to become GoG vs Steam? is there some voodoo magic that allows for both clients to run on my PC and no one else's?

maybe I am just old, but I remember when GoG stood for Good Old Games, and Steam was used for new stuff. the fact they both offer a blend now, means finding a game, of any era is easier than has been before. and with this, I can now get nice clean install packages that require zero else for some Steam Purchases. that's damn nice.
 
Nimisys said:
Why the fuck is it every time GoG and Steam get mentioned at the same time, it has to become GoG vs Steam? is there some voodoo magic that allows for both clients to run on my PC and no one else's?
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Because they deal in the same type of market, online game distribution. It's like asking why xbox and ps always get compared.
 
Leave it to people to receive something free and bitch about it in some way. I think this is a smart move on GOGs part, and incredibly generous. If you don't want to use anything else other than Steam, move along and stop threadcrapping.
 
pothb said:
Because they deal in the same type of market, online game distribution. It's like asking why xbox and ps always get compared.
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That's honestly not a fair comparison. They aren't necessarily competitors at all in the traditional sense. Their libraries are wildly different.

This would be like asking why dirtbike modding and cars get compared, just because they are both vehicles.
 
DPI said:
yet-another-downloader on your PC
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How is Galaxy different than Steam client when it comes to your point here? Do you expect Steam to deliver GoG games or should GoG not even be in business (since you said the zip method is bad)? What other method of distributing games should they take?
 
Cmustang87 said:
That's honestly not a fair comparison. They aren't necessarily competitors at all in the traditional sense. Their libraries are wildly different.

This would be like asking why dirtbike modding and cars get compared, just because they are both vehicles.
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I might agree if GoG didn't look like they're trying to get into the market of new games as well. Not to mention Steam did recently open up their stores for a fair load of old games.
 
pothb said:
I might agree if GoG didn't look like they're trying to get into the market of new games as well. Not to mention Steam did recently open up their stores for a fair load of old games.
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GoG's library is, at least in theory, limited by game company's perception of DRM (my general rule of thumb being, the bigger the company, the less likely they will voluntarily drop DRM). Initially though, GoG did focus a LOT on the older games (games not otherwise available elsewhere at the time, even on Steam), which is how I came to know them, they were selling classics that I can't even pirate easily, if at all possible.

With Steam now also selling retro games, GoG might be fighting a significant uphill battle, especially the DRM-free policy they are making do not go well with the big brand bosses who may or may not know how the market works. Personally though, I am very grateful that GoG exist and generally I prefer GoG over Steam if there isn't any significant difference between them.

The most evident absences from GoG's old game catalogue are Square-Enix (Final Fantasy etc), Capcom (Street Fighter, Megaman/Rockman or even old Resident Evil titles like 1~3) and Sega (Sonic the Hedgehog or Genesis titles like Streets of Rage), with either they may significantly boost their prestige.
 
No doubt, Steam has the power in the market, so it'll be hard for GoG to get a solid foot in the game, but if they can get big exclusives, it would help tremendously. he chances of that though, seems pretty slim. The big names come from big companies, and they want DRM... lots of DRM.
 
It just takes 1 AAA company to roll the snowball though, as soon as 1 big name company not called CDPR does it, the adoption should be a lot easier afterwards, hopefully.
 
DPI said:
That is bananas level of wishful thinking, no offense. You do understand that it is publishers that hold the copyright to games - and therefore decide which marketplace their games are sold in - and not Valve? In other words Valve has no legal authority to decide which games "GOG Connect" supports, aside from their own firstparty titles obviously.

GOG's 500lb gorilla is not Valve/Steam. It is convincing publishers that DRM isn't necessary, and they've gone nowhere on that front. Thus GOG's Top50 continues to be Witcher titles + Indie's and pretty much nothing else.
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I'm not sure what's "bananas" about it - clearly GOG is taking steps in that very direction and thus have understood the problem. Valve doesn't seem to object thus far, either. I'm well aware that publishers hold the copyright - and many of them offer games for sale on multiple marketplaces including both GOG and Steam. Getting games that aren't yet on GOG yet exist on Steam is a separate question, that paragraph regarded improving the experience for titles that already both exist on GOG and Steam. If GOG wants to make more headway in this regard, they need to engage with both Valve and with publishers. With Valve this is mostly technical, API kinda stuff that would make it easier to do the things I recommend. On the publisher side, GOG can make sure publishers are aware of various features and they have the right to enable them, but there are some it would be much easier for everyone involved if technical aspect between GOG and Steam would be upgraded. For instance, existing "CrossPlay" requires a developer to specifically code their game to support both GOG Native+ Cross-play, as well as Steam, meaning supporting multiple versions if the game. Now, if Steam API /Steamworks or some other utility could come across that would allow GOG Galaxy players with a Steam connected account to play through that, the developer has a lot less work to do and it adds to a unified player base. Things like Achievement sharing etc.. could also be included so that developers don't have to code for Steam achievements plus GOG Galaxy achievements if they don't wish to do so. This will also help with the GOG Connect issue, ensuring that developers can easily track keys/sales etc.. and not have to "generate" all new keys for the GOG side that seem independent from the Steam offerings, if better tech is available to simplify things. Just the presence of GOG Connect I expect to expand among those developers/publishers with their games on both marketplaces, as players and developers alike see the benefit in doing so. Expanded and easy integration between GOG and Steam will help everyone involved, as it means that it takes less time, work, and money for a game to be compatible and with a parity experience on multiple platforms,

I really don't see this absolute focus on DRM that you feel is the core difference for why Steam has a larger audience than GOG. DRM use even amongst the old school AAA publishers is lower than ever before, while a new generation of both indie and top of the line titles are launching without any DRM. Instead, I think it has to do with all its major features, a huge playerbase, and the understandable desire to have a singular, integrated distribution architecture (ie one set of keys, one company providing online features if necessary etc) as opposed to maintaining multiple incompatible ones. GOG clearly is starting to prioritize these exact issues with their rollout of things like GOG Connect etc. GOG has only transitioned from being "Good Old Games" relatively recently, so they're a late entry to the marketplace. It isn't any surprise that the Witcher titles are their main sellers as with any first party (Steam is an anomaly in this, but those indies and other titles are a considerable showing. There will be those few DRM or client-only platforms that GOG will be unlikely to attract, but with continued development and greater compatibility , it will become easier to bring players and developers alike to their platform and make a better experience once they arrive.
 
Xaeos said:
I really don't see this absolute focus on DRM that you feel is the core difference for why Steam has a larger audience than GOG.
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Then you're just not looking. Here's a clue: Look at the Top 50 on GOG. Witcher and Indie's and that's it.

Then take a look at the Top10 or Top25 selling current video games and see if any of them not named Witcher 3 are anywhere to be found on GOG.

BTW I never said anything about why Steam has a larger audience. I'm strictly talking about why publishers - as in one's anyone has actually heard of - avoid GOG like the plague: lack of DRM.

The rest of your post is a wishful thinking manifesto - Valve doesn't care about extending API support to the DRM-less little engine that could store and also doesn't care about Windows Store - they're both nonfactors.
 
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It's a vicious cycle. Steam offers DRM support, so more games, particularlly AAA titles, appear on Steam. Because the more AAA titles, Steam gets a larger exposure, which in turn would lead to higher number of sales on Steam. Company management sees that, they don't want to release on GoG as they don't want the DRM sales to be cannibalised by non-DRM sales, and especially, giving pirates a piratable copy on a silver platter, while probably not realising that, regardless of DRM, pirate copies will inevitably appear that has the DRM circumvented or removed, and the only thing DRM can actually achieve is piss off the paying customers either immediately via online registration with a CD-Key, or a DRM server that may eventually lock people out of the game later down the line.

Since knowing about GoG, I have actually pirated 0 games since, and bought every single copy of the game on GoG, even though I know I can easily get a hassle free copy of it online, why? Because I like GoG, and I like paying them for their always available online storage, which is not guarenteed for pirated copies. I have, so far, paid for all DRM free games I have played or downloaded.
 
DPI said:
Then you're just not looking. Here's a clue: Look at the Top 50 on GOG. Witcher and Indie's and that's it.
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That's not what I see when I look at the GOG bestsellers here: Games on GOG.com

I see lots of big name games (and Witcher). It's just that most of them are old. They're not indie. Most of them are Great Old Games. What a coincidence.
 
DPI said:
"Doing fine" by what metric? Are they suddenly attracting name publishers? Finally attracting more AA and AAA titles? Or is that just a personal feeling not based on anything but wishful thinking?

And "more popular than UPlay/Origin" is delusional.
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This is the truth right here. Origin and Uplay have a lot of big name games (even if you don't like them) that people use for it. Old games aren't big sellers. Witcher series and Alan Wake are some of the few modern games on all of GOG. GOG won't catch on because of DRM. Fact is the majority of companies want DRM on their games.

Even looking at the Steam list of DRM free games, it is mostly regulated to older titles (which likely never had DRM outside of a CD check) and indie games. There is a reason for that. I wouldn't mind GOG catching on some more, but it simply won't.
 
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