GOG Galaxy "Optional Client" Announced

[alj]

This is amazing news, now i can manage all my gog games without having to mess around with downloading and installing manually. As cool as it is that is optional i would not even mind if it was not.

Now humble bundle just needs to port that android app to windows and linux and we are sorted .

 

[Strazdas]

Well, I know they don't have *every* old game, but maintaining even a low-traffic server for so many games would require quite an expansion, unless of course they've been working on it for quite some time. Can you tell that I don't know how servers work?

well, considering they are running mostly empty old game servers, they can just stuff many virtual machines on a single powerful server, each having enough processing power to emulate old servers that didnt require much for nonpowerful games. its not like they have to host 100 servers of each game like new games have to, usually 1 or 2 is going to cut it and still be empty half the time (like even F.E.A.R. had only 3 active servers only 3 years after its release, and two of them were empty anyway). so resource management in smart server may not actually require that much of an investment (relative to overall investment running site like GOG)

i'm guessing they're still trying to figure out how to convince origin and uplay to be useful for once

refund policies, costumer support and the "on the house" program that rivals Games for gold or PS+, except its actually free, does pretty well of convincing people to find Origin useful.
Now, only if ther actual service worked properly....

 

[RyQ_TMC]

That would be kinda against their... name? I suppose.

Well, they semi-officially changed their name from "Good Old Games" to "GOG.com" when they expanded their scope to include indies and an occasional (very occasional) full-price release. So that's already been taken care of. I don't know what GOG is supposed to stand for now.

We can give a blink to Witcher games, as Gog.com is a "sister" company of CDPR, but still.
Plus, some publishers won't be happy to remove DRM from they new shiny games, the customer irritation is all that matters, after all.

But yeah, it would be amazing.
Imagine it.
New games, from whatever, indi or not, with actual quality service on the store, no DRM, and a 30 day guarantee if it does not work...

Bloody hell, that would be paradise.

That might very likely be their end goal, especially since they have to keep expanding their library to stay afloat, and even now they have less and less new "classic" releases and more indies. If they're ever gonna become real competition to Steam or Origin, they have to get more AAA games in.

But there's a problem. Remember what happened a few months ago? When they announced they were going to include regional pricing in order to have some AAA releases available in the store, it was met with a massive cry of "betrayal" from the community, with a lot of people announcing they'll be "leaving GOG for Steam" (which already has regional pricing and is not DRM free on top of that) and had to be followed by a lot of damage control from the team.
Bear in mind that regional pricing was supposed to ONLY be applicable to AAA titles which they wouldn't be able to get otherwise. That lack of regional pricing was never on the list of GOG promises. And yet, the customer base went apeshit. For a small retailer like GOG (and compared to Steam, they're microscopic), customer loyalty is paramount. A big scandal like this can kill the company.
My overlong point is this: to get more big releases, GOG would likely have to make some concessions to the publishers. Regional pricing was one of them. Dropping the 30-day warranty for certain releases might turn out to be another. Every step like this will provoke people to cry foul. And that's risky. They're in a situation where they have to expand to ever become viable competition to the big names, but expansion can destroy the company.

 

[viranimus]

That would be kinda against their... name? I suppose.

Keep in mind GoG had dropped the "Good Ole Games" moniker a while back. Either they have not decided on what the initialism should stand for now, or they have just accepted that their place in the industry is far greater than just serving old games and view the name as "Gawg"

If GOG was able to get newer-ish games to their service, I'd drop Valve's shitty service completely.

Adding a client and setting themselves up to begin doing the same things that valve and others do with their clients in respect to multiplayer gaming is likely being done to grow accessibility TO newer games from holdouts who currently would glance over GOG because they want a distribution client capable of serving all needs, single player and multiplayer alike.

While there will likely be some measure of early "resurrecting dead multiplayer for old games" to get the client rolling, I doubt very highly that long term GoG is taking on such an endeavor without a fixed eye on return on such a big investment with something that is only going to represent nominal returns.

They are doing this so they CAN get those newer games which is functionally the last big hurdle for them to expand and go head to head with Steam, and even surpass it by providing a superior service to match the superior distribution system that allowed them to get to this position. As they expand their catalog to include holdout devs/pubs who did not want to release on GOG because they wanted not only a distributor, but someone to administrate the multiplayer side of their product, others will follow. As more players use it and the chance for profitability becomes more readily apparent, even the DRM fallacy would fall by the wayside and by that time platforms that cannot offer DRM free alternatives will no longer be able to remain viable (and they should never have been allowed to be viable this long regardless of individual justifications)

So there is certainly a method to the madness. It might not be apparent to most initially, but this is a very methodical and deliberate long view expansion of service that has entirely too much potential in to not be excited for.

Spoiler: Examination of Abject Apathy and learned helplessness in application. Warning: Retinal Aneurysm Inside

Honestly I am really surprised by the listless response.(Not just here, but amongst several similar communities) I get this specific community, which only represents but a slice of what makes up the market, is adamantly supportive of Steam/Valve (bordering at times on the irrational) but come on. This is legitimately big news as the long term potential implications that this represents can actively improve the industry and undo some of the damage already done by consumer neglect and irresponsibility. There is potential here to remove one of the last major things that keeps an anti consumer behemoth in power, and it gets met with disinterest and only glancing at a fragment of the potential this has??

It feels almost as if an announcement was made that a cure for herpes had been discovered only to be met with lethargic response amounting to "So what? The symptoms really don't bother me and Its my body anyway. Take it if you want it but I Me NOT taking it doesn't hurt you so what makes you think you get to push your wants on me? ."

What we have here is an opportunity for true competitor to emerge and provide the type features that help keep the behemoth on top, and do so without customers having to endure more of the escalating anti consumer practices and clearly greed driven poor choices that have played a major role in why the industry is in such a screwed up backwards state now.

In short this opens the doors for a truly viable competitor for valve to emerge (and market regulate their behavior) that does not come with the heavy price tags of giving up ones rights, freedoms, or being accomplice to destabilizing e-commerce related to digital distribution. Its potentially all the good without all the evil, so truthfully I am flabbergasted how anyone can still look at Steam as a reasonable and legitimate platform for such commerce when the superior value is available. Yes at first migrating to GoG might come with a sacrifice (as it relates to the total library and triple A titles) but if there is monetary support in the industry, publishers and big developers wont blink an eye at tossing their lauded "We are protecting our intellectual property by supporting DRM measures from dreaded pirates that are driving us into the poorhouse and unemployment lines" out the window in order to milk the teet.

I get a vested interest in what one has already bought, but that is the whole point because valve withholds the right to nullify your vested interest with or without reason. Seeing people still returning to steam in the face of superior value, Superior alternatives, and poor corporate decisions that are repeatedly putting the company at odds with its loyal supporters Is almost like seeing an exercise in Stockholm syndrome or learned helplessness as people keep clinging to the one that is abusing, exploiting and holding them (by way of access to what they have purchased) hostage demanding the endure more and more.

You may think you have no reason to care, but the reason you should is because it is the correct philosophy to support in order to repair the grievous state of the industry that gamers allowed to flourish and fester through self serving motives, consumer irresponsibility, neglect, impatience and obliviousness to the consequences of their choices and just how large a typhoon can grow from the tiny waves set into motion by a simple drop in the ocean. We basically have the market we deserve because we allowed it to grow into this. Most of the problems we face today are the consequences of poor decisions made long ago. Now is the time for all gamers to start taking responsibility for their actions and purchases because even if you think your choice ends at you, it does not. No gamer is an island unto themselves and right now much of what is wrong with our industry, hobby, lifelong companion, all comes back to the consequences of poorly considered choices from a time when our choices were more limited to having no right answer decided simply due to absence of the good one. This announcement reaffirms that now we have no reason to continue to hurt both ourselves and all gamers by supporting the wrong philosophies when the beneficial ones are every bit as accessible.

Spoiler: Disclaimer

This is just me considering the reaction and disappointment due to it not generating anywhere near as much excitement as it should due to what the announcement means and the long term implications that will surface from its implementation. It is only the expression of an opinion, so I have no intent to argue opinion. I also have no desire to devalue anyone elses opinion. I express it because it needs to be expressed. Doing nothing has done nothing. Every year the price of what customers must endure out of their pass time increases, and freedom, choice, and value are still slipping further away. If the industry had not come to this state and/or customers actively force the industry to correct its destructive behavior there would be no need to express such an opinion. While it is just an opinion and we are all entitled to them, It is my hope that this message might get through and we as a community raised on gaming demand that as the laws of this emerging new digital economy be drafted with the same focus on customer protection that laws from the old economy gained only through resistance, blood, sweat, tears and even life in acknowledgement of the nature of corporate entities in a capitalist centric free market global society. I am truly adamant in this position, but I remain reasonable and hopeful that people will repair the problems that keep forcing this issue to the forefront. I am infinitely more tired of having to keep saying it than anyone reading it can possibly be, but it is an issue far too important to just let go because we have so many historical examples of how that type of apathetic neglect brought us here.

Captcha: High time
I seriously could not have said it better myself.

 

[Pink Gregory]

Just read the press release and they mentioned 'GOG galaxy titles'.

Does that mean that only certain titles are going to be compatible at first?

I mean, I can live with that, but I'm curious.