GOG.com Closes its Digital Doors

Logan Westbrook

Transform, Roll Out, Etc
Feb 21, 2008
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GOG.com Closes its Digital Doors


Picking up classic PC games has just gotten a little bit trickier, as one of the leading sources of retro games shuts up shop.

Good Old Games, better known as GOG.com, has shut down, after its operators made the decision that it couldn't continue in its current form. The site, which sold DRM free retro games updated to run on modern computers, was owned and operated by CD Projekt, the Polish videogame company responsible for The Witcher.

In a message on the GOG website [http://www.gog.com/], the staff said they were grateful for the support they'd received over the last two years, and said that working on GOG had been a "great adventure" into gaming's past. They added that despite the closure, the idea behind the site wasn't necessarily gone forever.

A post on the site's official Twitter [http://twitter.com/GOGcom/status/24772660481] feed seems to suggest that the lack of DRM on GOG products was making it difficult to keep developers and publishers happy, but whether that's the reason for the closure, or just one part of it, isn't clear. GOG advises keeping an eye on the site for updates on how users will be able to re-download all their games again before the site is gone for good.

This is actually a really sad day, as along with Steam, GOG was one of the best places to pick up older games without having to shell out a small fortune on eBay, or fiddle around for hours trying to get a game designed for Windows 95 to work on XP. Hopefully GOG 2.0 will come soon, although if it does, it's likely to be quite different.

You can follow the site's Twitter [http://twitter.com/gogcom] or join the official Facebook [http://www.facebook.com/gogcom] group for updates.


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Sevre

Old Hands
Apr 6, 2009
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This is pretty devastating, I bought Fallout off GOG for a fiver and the service they offered...has not been matched by any contemporary digital distributor or retail store. :(
 

Jaqen Hghar

New member
Feb 11, 2009
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Goddammit! Now I will have to download all of the games I got there once they open for that. Not sure if I have space for that...
I can't really see how things went so wrong for them. As far as I know they had a lot of customers, and they even put out a new game a few days ago I think. There is something about this that just doesn't seem right.
 

Jack and Calumon

Digimon are cool.
Dec 29, 2008
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Wait...

That's what GOG was for?

GOD DAMN IT! I wondered what it stood for.

Calumon: Maybe they'll come back like steam?
 

Beltom

Professional Lurker
Sep 8, 2008
675
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Damn, good thing I managed to grab a copy of Fallout 2 of there before it shut down. Really sorry to see that site go, it was a really useful place to find old stuff.
 

LTK_70

New member
Aug 28, 2009
598
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What? Nooooo! GOG is too awesome to shut down! They gave me Myst and Riven and Painkiller and there are so many other great games that it had to offer. This is a very, very sad day for PC gaming.
 

Moriarty

New member
Apr 29, 2009
325
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glad I keep backups for all my games from gog.com;

sad to see one of the best DD services go
 

Gildan Bladeborn

New member
Aug 11, 2009
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Noooo! I never actually had call to do business with the site myself, as I invariably already owned the games I would have purchased from them, but knowing it was there was great because I could direct people who didn't have those titles to get them there. Now where will people get Freespace 2?
 

Therumancer

Citation Needed
Nov 28, 2007
9,909
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Hmmm, I'm somewhat depressed that I hadn't heard of them. Too late to see if they have a copy of "Legacy: Realm Of Terror" I could just up and play. Never been able to get that one to run on current computers .

That said, I suppose it doesn't surprise me. I haven't been looking at oldware much for years, but still these guys seem to be under-represented if I hadn't heard of them before their closing down. They definatly weren't drumming up the business they probably could have.

As far as the DRM issues and so on, I could see how that would be an issue for some of the greedier companies out there. On the other hand, something like GOG was a good middle ground between regular retail and abandonware. Making older titles people still might play availible for cheap, as opposed to them becoming totally free when companies inevitably have to let the liscences slide and then sites like Abandonia pick them up.

In the end I think it more or less came down to simple greed, and if the DRM theory is correct, it shows that companies would rather totally deep six a project like this than not make what they consider "worthy" mountains of cash.
 
Apr 28, 2008
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God dammit. God dammit.

This really makes me sad. I bought fallout 1 from them. These guys are like Steam, only less annoying, and no DRM. I really hope the no DRM is the reason behind the closure. God forbid a service treats its customers like actual people instead of potential pirates.
 

ioxles

New member
Nov 25, 2008
507
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noooooooooooooooooooooooooo Fuck, I still had games there I'd bought that I had to download