Thinking about buying more games on GOG instead of Steam, whenever possible ?

Subzerok11

Gawd
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Aug 13, 2014
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550
Lately I've was thinking of buying all the games I can on GOG. Probably the only real reason I want to start buying from them is because they fix and make sure that all their games are working properly before selling them, dam if Steam would do like wise their would be no reason for me to try and buy my games on GOG. I'd rather buy all my games on Steam but I like the idea GOG fix/make sure they run on modern OS's before selling them. Also buying newer games on GOG now even if they run well now, in 10 years they may not, but GOG will make sure they do run well by then too, where Steam won't.
 
Well you have seen my previous post about buying off Steam vs buying off GoG, an extremely long winded one.

For me, sometimes the choice is less clear because of price differences between Steam and GoG (in favor of Steam, as I am often one of the beneficiaries of regional pricing), and rarely (quite rare, and mostly indie devs) will you get a few games on Steam that you can redeem on GoG for completely free (Saint's Row series and Van Helsing series are the biggest two I have off the top of my head).

But if you want to use the games on other devices (EG tablets or laptops), convenience of GoG cannot be beat by steam, at all, in any form.

I probably wouldn't base my purchasing decision based on who will and who won't do something, since GoG is still relatively young, many of their promises are still yet to be seen, and it also does not mean that Steam will not start offering them in the future. Unlikely? Probably. For certain? No. Also, the existence of GoG (perhaps even Steam) is not necessarily guarenteed in 10 years.

That being said, the one game that will, for sure, run better under GoG than under steam is Fallout 3, as they removed GFWL functionality completely in FO3, on Steam it requires some hackery.

If I were in your shoes though, if price difference is non-existent, I'd most likely prefer GoG versions over Steam, the older the game, the more I'd prefer GoG.
 
I believe GoG will give you access to some games purchased on Steam, but the reverse is not true.

Another thing to consider is some games the online functionality is separate between the two services. As you can imagine the community on those would be much smaller on GoG.
 
I buy wherever is cheaper. Most my games are on Steam because most stores I buy from online provide Steam keys. I will be buying Cyberpunk 2077 on GoG though so CD Projekt gets all my money instead of Valve taking 30%.
 
I have over 300 games in Steam, about 57 or so in GoG, and maybe 5 in Origin. (I only use Origin for the couple of games I needed it for: Mass Effect 3 and Mirror's Edge 2) I really only bought about 20 or so from GoG originally. My favorite old DOS series (Sierra games, Ultima games, a few that got released on it before Steam for whatever reason, etc.) I used the Connect feature though, and it brought roughly 20 more games over from my Steam account. I prefer to have everything in Steam where possible, but I like the ideas and values that GoG seems to be about so much that I do try to support them as well. I just try to keep it to things that I can't get elsewhere if possible, or something with a good deal, extra feature, etc. I bought the System Shock games there as well (though I have since also bought them on Steam) Both services are great.
 
I've been buying more games on GOG lately, mostly older games that have been fixed for newer OS's, like Revenant for example, it now works on W10, which I could never get to work on anything after XP.


Also, I really don't support Steam's business model as of late.
 
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From one standpoint I can understand the impetus. However, I think things aren't necessarily so cut and dry. There are many customer-friendly ways that Steam is actually ahead of GOG. For instance, Steam has a Linux client and has been instrumental in expanding Linux gaming. GOG doesn't offer a Linux version of Galaxy, despite one being promised for quite a long time. Now, this isn't to say that GOG doesnt have some titles that support Linux via manual download, but a client like Steam or GOG Galaxy can go a long way to convenience (ie automatic updates) and actually full functionality. Lets not forget that Steam, despite what some would say erroneously, is not simply a DRM system. There are many titles on Steam that work completely independently of the client, DRM-Free. Offline play works well these days too. Also not every title that requires the Steam client isn't doing so for "DRM", but take advantage of Steam/Steamworks features like achievements, friendslist, matchmaking, Workshop and more, as well as the basic stuff like updates I mentioned above. Without these features, it means the developers (or another platform like GOG) has to provide them instead and a lot of time they aren't up to the same level. This is a reason why you'll sometimes see that a game that is on GOG as well as Steam, the GOG version is generally inferior - maybe not updated as frequently, missing online play or often having totally segregated online play if it does, missing content etc. One of the most popular GOGMixes is about games like this - https://www.gog.com/mix/games_that_treat_gog_customers_as_second_class_citizens . Much of this certainly falls on the individual developers, but I do think GOG' lack of feature parity and compatibility is part of the issue as well. There are some things GOG does well, notably working on ensuring older titles run well on modern machines, but they have a ways to go when it comes to selling newer releases and g iving a parity experience.

Overall I'd like to see GOG continue to improve and I like to support them "with all else being equal", but frankly this isn't always the case. I'd really put pressure on both Steam to develop, as well as GOG and whatnot to support/adopt, universal feature compatibility even if it means "linking" accounts and whatnot. Developers and players alike are getting a bit annoyed with all these disparate clients with separate standards, features, and experiences - only publishers with big enough exclusives to swing around enjoy them. Sadly by buying a title that registers on Steam users often get a much better experience/features/community, compared to something like GOG and I'd like to see that change. Ultimately, having to buy a title and get it "stuck" to one platform or another exclusively is another issue and one I think GOG is making some leeway upon, with allowing users to connect their Steam accounts and (if devs allow) grant a GOG copy of certain games if the player already owns it on the linked Steam account. However it needs to go much further and become universal, so players can choose whatever platform they like. But until then, there are many features that Steam provides that GOG needs to offer a parity (and ideally compatible) experience and at the moment, has room to improve.
 
I prefer GOG to pretty much everything, simply due to the fact that they release everything DRM free. At least they used to, i haven't purchased anything from them in a while. Not because i dislike them, the opposite is true. I just haven't purchased many games recently. And the ones i have, have not been available on GoG.

Plus, any company who bothers to bring classic games back that will work on modern machines, that alone is worth support! Dungeon keeper 2 ALONE is worth that for me.
 
I'll be looking at GOG for my next purchases.
I didnt realise they are DRM free and dont need the GOG client to run, I had this politely explained in another thread.
Posted again for those not aware.
 
I buy wherever is cheaper. Most my games are on Steam because most stores I buy from online provide Steam keys. I will be buying Cyberpunk 2077 on GoG though so CD Projekt gets all my money instead of Valve taking 30%.

Valve takes 30% cut? Holy shit they must be swimming in cash. No wonder they don't give a damn about Half Life 3.
 
Valve takes 30% cut? Holy shit they must be swimming in cash. No wonder they don't give a damn about Half Life 3.

Yeah, combine yacht-loads :D of money with no real company direction, and you get a filthy rich amorphous lump. :D They do help provide a fairly nice PC Gaming experience though, so I'm not really complaining. Even though they've lost relevance to me as a game company, they still provide the infrastructure for other game companies that ARE relevant to me. Not a bad situation, just not ideal for fans of their former games.
 
I'll be looking at GOG for my next purchases.
I didnt realise they are DRM free and dont need the GOG client to run, I had this politely explained in another thread.
Posted again for those not aware.

GoG really is a great company. I still primarily go with Steam just because I have so much there, but I still pick up quite a few older games, and indie games from GoG, which works out great. I tend to install this sort of thing all over the place (various laptops, my desktop, etc.) and it's nice to not have to worry about where I'm logged in when I launch something. Especially an old DOS game which I probably bought more than once over my gaming lifetime.
 
I buy GOG so that steam gets nervous about the lack of purchases, this reconsidering alternative revenue streams, for example HL3! I kid, I kid.

But really, with DRM free I feel like the game is mine, instead going with steam's software as service model, we're though unrealistic the games "technically" can be taken away. Not a concern per se but I try to support companies who's business models are pure. Gaben won't be in charge forever.
 
I buy from GOG if possible because once you download them, they are yours. On Steam the games can be taken away at any point.
 
I buy from GOG if possible because once you download them, they are yours. On Steam the games can be taken away at any point.

To my knowledge they've never taken something away from someone that already has the license. I have see several instances where something is no longer for sale though (Prey, Wolfenstein '09, etc.)

That doesn't mean they couldn't of course, but I've never had this issue with anything I've purchased. Still DRM free is better of course.
 
the only thing that's annoying about GoG is that it takes them forever to patch a game...Steam etc get patched much quicker for some reason...seems like GoG has to get their patches certified or through a different method
 
I buy from gog when possible, but steam has never burned me. I have several games that have long since been off their menu and I still get to download and install them no problem.
 
the only thing that's annoying about GoG is that it takes them forever to patch a game...Steam etc get patched much quicker for some reason...seems like GoG has to get their patches certified or through a different method
And without Galaxy, it has to be done manually too, though I don't think it's THAT surprsing.
 
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