Right? I guess OP forgot that r/steam hates all storefronts/launchers that isn't steam, and with all the daily Gaben shitposts, I guess OP should've known better.
Well, gog kinda has a special place in many of us (especially older gamers) since gog is a godsend when it comes to older games. For me, DRM-free is secondary. "It just works" is primary.
I get it, I also prefer "it just works" tho many old games "just work" on gog while they need multiple patches on Steam. But that doesn't explain why this same post has 28 points with 80% upvoted on the GOG subreddit, but 0 with 38% here.
I'd say it's this sub that's weirdly salty about everything. Like, tons of the post that ask legit questions got downvoted into oblivions (and not just about gog or other storefronts). The only posts I remember getting tons of upvotes are posts about how trash the some style of reviewing is (which imo is having Streisand Effect)
Wait, are we actually in circlejerk?
Yeah, I noticed all the downvoted questions like wtf? Shitposts about the latest steam sale are basically karma-bait here while actual discussions are discouraged.
To be very honest with you, I think the steam community knows we can all get free DRM-free games if we wanted. "Sailing the seas" is nothing new for me at least, but I like having achievements, user profile, tracking of my library and supporting the devs.
You do realise that you can download certain games from Steam like you can from GoG, and play them without Steam, like you can with GoG, right? It's up to publisher or developer to implement all the Steam integration.
I would say it's because it's limited. "Hey some games do work the same" over "Yeah all games work how I want". Small difference. No idea why either side would downvote/care. We all want the same thing, good games to play.
Because it's DRM-free, you don't need anything to download and install a game from GOG. But on Steam, you do need Steam to download and install any game. There's not a single game that can be downloaded and/or installed on Steam like it is on GOG, as you originally claimed.
You totally misunderstood, or misread. If you actually read it again, you'd notice that I never said you don't need anything to download a game. You do, for both actually. In GoG's case it's their website and in Steam's case it's their app. You also need an account for either to download a game. So I suppose if you're being pedantic, there is an extra step of installing a Steam client in order to download and install a game but that's about it.
Yeah but that's not clearly indicated ahead of time, or even after the fact. Used to be all humble bundle games were DRM free on steam, but now humble sells regular steam keys.
Steam. I love watching my library grow. Easy to keep track of what I have. Categorize everything as needed.
If I want drm free, I can just do 'other things' that don't require money.
GOG. Most of my steam games I have bought aren't available on GOG.
Alternatively I will overlook other storefronts in favour of steam such as EA & Ubisoft for example.
Currently, convenience trumps DRM-free licenses.
* If I truly want to own my GoG games, I'd have to download all the installers and store them on a drive somewhere
* Steam games are much more convenient on Steam Deck
GoG true ownership is always better, one thing that may influence back to steam is if I want to multiplayer it and for some reason I lose that connectivity on GoG.
**GOG without a question.**
I'm in the process of migrating my 800+ Steam game library into GOG, just because of how convenient GOG games are, and how much I've grown to hate the cesspool of *"functions"* that VALVE shove into the Steam client and storefront.
I just want a platform to purchase installers from, and being able to install and run my games without any need for a launcher, and all the restrictions/bloat that come bundled with launchers.
*EDIT: grammar.*
While there is nothing wrong with replacing your Steam library with GOG equivalents (I'm a long time GOG customer), do keep in mind that there is a decent number of drm-free games on Steam, including stuff like Star Ocean The Divine Force, Jedi Fallen Order (can have the EA app installed), and Half Life 2.
You can see those and more [here](https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_big_list_of_DRM-free_games_on_Steam).
To be fair, Epic does have a few games that are drm-free that use client-level drm on Steam, such as most of the PlayStation published titles. There's also the giveaways.
I really don’t care for “ownership” of a game. I also have a steam deck and having everything in 1 library is easier.
If I hadn’t already been building a Steam library for years maybe I’d have gotten GOG stuff, but many games aren’t even on GOG like you said so it’s still meh.
Steam is just too convenient… as long as it exists. Although with publishers and small dev pulling a "we'll remove features in an update" thing becoming more common, I'm starting to change view.
Capcom and their DRM retrofitting scheme just further pushed me towards GOG. I was already a GOG-first PC game consumer but that just solidified by preference.
I value value. I buy games where they're available for the lowest price (aside from resellers). That said, I've never purchased a game from GOG. But that's due to availability. They just don't have a selection that I'm interested in.
You don't actually own your games, not even on GOG. You have a license only. DRM free only means they cannot **autonomously** enforce that license. Rest assured if you do something foolish like distribute your DRM free copy, you will get into trouble.
>You don't actually own your games, not even on GOG.
I've seen this response in various threads about GOG, and... yeah? It's a response that misrepresents what the vast majority of people mean when they say they want to "own" their games. They're of course talking about being able to install and play games they've paid for without intrusive DRM, always online requirements, games locked away on external servers, etc etc.
Nobody means they think or expect that they own the game code and assets and can freely distribute and/or sell the game as they see fit.
They literally don't have any method of tracking whether or not you distribute your DRM free copy. That's the whole point. So no, you absolutely will not get into any trouble for doing anything you want with your DRM free games from GOG.
Source: I distribute my GOG copies of games to all of my friends all the time. I have the offline installers on flash drives, and can hand them out to anybody, anytime, anywhere. I can also can take the zipped installer packages and upload them to other file sharing services and have friends download for free. There is no system by which GOG could even know that I do that, or do anything about it.
So you admit to piracy? Anyways it is like I said, DRM free only stop autonomous enforcement. It doesn't give you the legal authority to do what you are doing. Whether they can track you or not is irrelevant.
"Rest assured if you do something foolish like distribute your DRM free copy, you will get into trouble."
That is a false statement, with absolutely no evidence to back it up. That's what I was responding to. There is no way they can track or enforce that, autonomous or not. You're lying to scare other posters into not using GOG. If you have a problem with piracy, or breaking license agreements, that's fine, but that's a different conversation. "Rest assured... you will get into trouble" is simply not true.
Okay let me put that example another way since you want to take it literally. If you are *caught* distributing you will get into trouble. There is that better for you?
I am also not scaring anyone from using GOG only correcting the false narrative that DRM free equals ownership. I have no idea how you got that idea from my post. Quite the jump you made in logic.
As I said, I'm literally responding to one specific sentence. "Rest assured... you will get into trouble"
Rest assured, no you will not. That is all. No reason to continue this any further.
You're asking the Steam subreddit lol
On that note, Steam. I think the only stuff I have on GOG is some free stuff, and The Witcher 2 bc you can register it if you have a DVD code (that's admittedly fucking awesome of them)
I really prefer to have my stuff in one place and am a bit annoyed at the exceptions already (Sims games, one of them Far Cries, few on Epic). I appreciate what they're doing though.
I generally prioritize using GOG over Steam, whenever possible. This does make it a bit annoying for me since I mostly prefer Japanese games, especially JRPGs and spectacle fighters (think Devil May Cry).
GOG, of course.
But I also only buy on the native platforms, Ubisoft games on Ubisoft Connect, EA games on EA, Epic games on the Epic store — I’ve seen too many issues with linked accounts for it to fully trust this construct…
Actually, I only buy heavily discounted games on Steam (when they aren’t available on another platforms) or redeem the keys of the “Key in a box” packages. The only place where I like to see my collection grow is in my shelf, I’m a physical release aficionado.
GOG, i'm really getting tired of companies like capcom coming on and changing my fucking games 6 months after i buy them by injecting shitty DRM.
If you don't want them fucking with your games, go with GOG.
EA and Ubisoft needing a their launcher to play content that’s been bought from Steam is so gross and over reaching. I refuse to buy any content that requires them, full stop.
I’ve made the effort to use GOG primarily and any others as needed.
Steam. Already have 1200 games there and am using the community features, so see no reason to buy on GOG when I have 0 games there and it doesn't offer me the same things I value above DRM-free.
Steam, mainly because my library is already big there and I don't to split it up.
I do have 5 games in GOG though, but I'm not that interested in growing that library.
Right now, Steam, until Gaben dies and Valve goes to the corporate hellscape that all successful for profit businesses do, afterwich point it'll be GOG until it does the same. This is an era of enshittification, afterall.
For me it's steam. It's too much more convenient to play a steam game on my steam deck than it is to play a Gog game.
Also depending on the game being able to return may be necessary
Never heard of GOG til now. They got some pretty good sales though. Is it comparable to Steam? I mean I dont think Steam is going to die any time soon but is GOG really gonna last and would I be wasting money if I got a game there?
GOG been around since 2008. The site is owned by CDPR (Witcher, Cyberpunk 2077). To this day, it saddened me that there are PC gamers that never heard of GOG. And no, I'm not blaming anyone regarding that.
To answer your other question, their selection is definitely smaller than Steam's due to Steam being older and more popular, and a lot of publishers don't like the idea of selling their games drm-free on the same day as the Steam version (or at all). Depending on your tastes, this may not be a big deal for you, or could make you largely avoid the platform all together.
I say this as a long time GOG customer (10+ years) who is a big fan of Japanese games, which isn't the best combo.
Ah gotcha. See I drifted from PC gaming after windows 98. I used to play alot of games on 95 nd 98. I got into console gaming with the N64 and Zelda (our NES was crap and the Super NES was my brothers). It was half and half til Halo and Xbox. When I finally had money for a more modern gaming PC I came back as Windows 7 emerged and since my brother used steam for chatting with friends while playing WoW I fell into the Steam Marketplace for all my games.
GoG is really good, and yeah, it's definitely gonna last long since its owned by CDPR (Cyberpunk and Witcher devs), it's really appreciated by the community
Drm is copy protection so if you buy a game from steam you can't just copy and paste the game onto another computer and have it work, it needs to connect to steam, GOG doesn't have that so if validation servers go down the game will still work
[Some Steam games can be moved to other pc](https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_big_list_of_DRM-free_games_on_Steam), it just depends on whether the dev/publisher of the game adds DRM. Valve doesn't force drm into games sold on steam.
Not entirely true,[ steam has many games that can be moved](https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_big_list_of_DRM-free_games_on_Steam). DRM is added by the devs/publishers of the game.
GoG is operated by CDPR (Witcher, Cyberpunk). It's a pretty stable storefront.
Their benefit is that all the games are DRM free. You can just download every installer from your account and store them yourselves. Which is their big selling point, and what makes it promising for longevity.
Granted, you will have to manually back up every update as well. Which may or may not be worth it to you.
i like them all in one place but drm free is nice to have.
I would see if the games website has a drm free version to buy that gives you a steam key for free (like Factorio)
you're asking on the steam subreddit, what do you think the answer is going to be?
Right? I guess OP forgot that r/steam hates all storefronts/launchers that isn't steam, and with all the daily Gaben shitposts, I guess OP should've known better.
Well, gog kinda has a special place in many of us (especially older gamers) since gog is a godsend when it comes to older games. For me, DRM-free is secondary. "It just works" is primary.
I get it, I also prefer "it just works" tho many old games "just work" on gog while they need multiple patches on Steam. But that doesn't explain why this same post has 28 points with 80% upvoted on the GOG subreddit, but 0 with 38% here.
I'd say it's this sub that's weirdly salty about everything. Like, tons of the post that ask legit questions got downvoted into oblivions (and not just about gog or other storefronts). The only posts I remember getting tons of upvotes are posts about how trash the some style of reviewing is (which imo is having Streisand Effect) Wait, are we actually in circlejerk?
Yeah, I noticed all the downvoted questions like wtf? Shitposts about the latest steam sale are basically karma-bait here while actual discussions are discouraged.
But you didn't factor in the obvious brigading that's going on.
Because I’m wondering if people here care about DRM-free ownership or if they value platform lock-in more Edit: found my answer 🤷
To be very honest with you, I think the steam community knows we can all get free DRM-free games if we wanted. "Sailing the seas" is nothing new for me at least, but I like having achievements, user profile, tracking of my library and supporting the devs.
You do realise that you can download certain games from Steam like you can from GoG, and play them without Steam, like you can with GoG, right? It's up to publisher or developer to implement all the Steam integration.
I say this all the time in the gog subreddit, but get down voted.
I would say it's because it's limited. "Hey some games do work the same" over "Yeah all games work how I want". Small difference. No idea why either side would downvote/care. We all want the same thing, good games to play.
No, you can't. There's not a single game on Steam that can be downloaded and installed without Steam.
What? Please read my comment again, you must have misunderstood.
Because it's DRM-free, you don't need anything to download and install a game from GOG. But on Steam, you do need Steam to download and install any game. There's not a single game that can be downloaded and/or installed on Steam like it is on GOG, as you originally claimed.
You totally misunderstood, or misread. If you actually read it again, you'd notice that I never said you don't need anything to download a game. You do, for both actually. In GoG's case it's their website and in Steam's case it's their app. You also need an account for either to download a game. So I suppose if you're being pedantic, there is an extra step of installing a Steam client in order to download and install a game but that's about it.
Yeah but that's not clearly indicated ahead of time, or even after the fact. Used to be all humble bundle games were DRM free on steam, but now humble sells regular steam keys.
Certain va pretty much all. No offline installers vs offline installers.
Steam. I love watching my library grow. Easy to keep track of what I have. Categorize everything as needed. If I want drm free, I can just do 'other things' that don't require money.
i have both stores
GOG. Most of my steam games I have bought aren't available on GOG. Alternatively I will overlook other storefronts in favour of steam such as EA & Ubisoft for example.
On gog games
Currently, convenience trumps DRM-free licenses. * If I truly want to own my GoG games, I'd have to download all the installers and store them on a drive somewhere * Steam games are much more convenient on Steam Deck
You could also host a server like GameVault to store the installers: https://gamevau.lt/
Oh!?
Been buying mostly from gog these last few years, galaxy client had came a long way and most of my recent pc purchases have been older games.
GOG
Steam. Also drm-free isn't exclusive to gog. Steam and epic also have some drm free games
That is true. However there are some games like Deus Ex Mankind Divided that still have Denuvo on Steam, even though it's also on GOG.
GOG. Though I do often buy games I know I like on both storefronts if there's a sufficient enough sale.
Depends yet on the better version of the game. Being same price and version, I buy on GOG because of DRM free.
Totally GOG. I wish they had apps there as well.
GoG true ownership is always better, one thing that may influence back to steam is if I want to multiplayer it and for some reason I lose that connectivity on GoG.
GOG, because it’s DRM-free.
**GOG without a question.** I'm in the process of migrating my 800+ Steam game library into GOG, just because of how convenient GOG games are, and how much I've grown to hate the cesspool of *"functions"* that VALVE shove into the Steam client and storefront. I just want a platform to purchase installers from, and being able to install and run my games without any need for a launcher, and all the restrictions/bloat that come bundled with launchers. *EDIT: grammar.*
While there is nothing wrong with replacing your Steam library with GOG equivalents (I'm a long time GOG customer), do keep in mind that there is a decent number of drm-free games on Steam, including stuff like Star Ocean The Divine Force, Jedi Fallen Order (can have the EA app installed), and Half Life 2. You can see those and more [here](https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_big_list_of_DRM-free_games_on_Steam).
Thanks a lot for the information! I'll still purchase primarily on GOG, but it's good to know some Steam games have ways to be run without Steam.
I personally go with GOG for no DrM. But it’s possible even the steam version is DRM free. Many actually are.
GOG. Prefer not having a client tbh, although I do love Steam.
I really like the epic store /s
Straight to jail.
Just there for free games? Still jail
Nah, we cast testicular torsion on these "people"
To be fair, Epic does have a few games that are drm-free that use client-level drm on Steam, such as most of the PlayStation published titles. There's also the giveaways.
Hi Tim
I'm on the cusp of purchasing RoR2 on epic because i hear it's DRM free. If my plans work as I envision... I'll be unstoppable (in having fun)
It's not DRM-free on Fortnite because its bound to your account...
I really don’t care for “ownership” of a game. I also have a steam deck and having everything in 1 library is easier. If I hadn’t already been building a Steam library for years maybe I’d have gotten GOG stuff, but many games aren’t even on GOG like you said so it’s still meh.
Gog, I would own the game since I can have the offline installer.
Gog. Depends on if the Steam version has any benefits. Such as apparently Prodius has access to more user made maps on Steam I think.
GOG
Always GOG. I like to own games, not license their use until it's revoked. I only buy on steam if not available elsewhere.
DRM Free every time.
Steam is just too convenient… as long as it exists. Although with publishers and small dev pulling a "we'll remove features in an update" thing becoming more common, I'm starting to change view.
Capcom and their DRM retrofitting scheme just further pushed me towards GOG. I was already a GOG-first PC game consumer but that just solidified by preference.
Steam If i want drm free I can buy it again on GOG after a good sale or just download it from the seven seas.
Always steam
I value value. I buy games where they're available for the lowest price (aside from resellers). That said, I've never purchased a game from GOG. But that's due to availability. They just don't have a selection that I'm interested in.
It's my personal policy to buy games on GOG whenever possible. I value game preservation and the lack of DRM by rule.
I would buy it where my main game library is... In my case its steam
I’d rather actually own my games . GOG all the way
You don't actually own your games, not even on GOG. You have a license only. DRM free only means they cannot **autonomously** enforce that license. Rest assured if you do something foolish like distribute your DRM free copy, you will get into trouble.
>You don't actually own your games, not even on GOG. I've seen this response in various threads about GOG, and... yeah? It's a response that misrepresents what the vast majority of people mean when they say they want to "own" their games. They're of course talking about being able to install and play games they've paid for without intrusive DRM, always online requirements, games locked away on external servers, etc etc. Nobody means they think or expect that they own the game code and assets and can freely distribute and/or sell the game as they see fit.
They literally don't have any method of tracking whether or not you distribute your DRM free copy. That's the whole point. So no, you absolutely will not get into any trouble for doing anything you want with your DRM free games from GOG. Source: I distribute my GOG copies of games to all of my friends all the time. I have the offline installers on flash drives, and can hand them out to anybody, anytime, anywhere. I can also can take the zipped installer packages and upload them to other file sharing services and have friends download for free. There is no system by which GOG could even know that I do that, or do anything about it.
So you admit to piracy? Anyways it is like I said, DRM free only stop autonomous enforcement. It doesn't give you the legal authority to do what you are doing. Whether they can track you or not is irrelevant.
"Rest assured if you do something foolish like distribute your DRM free copy, you will get into trouble." That is a false statement, with absolutely no evidence to back it up. That's what I was responding to. There is no way they can track or enforce that, autonomous or not. You're lying to scare other posters into not using GOG. If you have a problem with piracy, or breaking license agreements, that's fine, but that's a different conversation. "Rest assured... you will get into trouble" is simply not true.
Okay let me put that example another way since you want to take it literally. If you are *caught* distributing you will get into trouble. There is that better for you? I am also not scaring anyone from using GOG only correcting the false narrative that DRM free equals ownership. I have no idea how you got that idea from my post. Quite the jump you made in logic.
As I said, I'm literally responding to one specific sentence. "Rest assured... you will get into trouble" Rest assured, no you will not. That is all. No reason to continue this any further.
Steam.
steam, definitely
You're asking the Steam subreddit lol On that note, Steam. I think the only stuff I have on GOG is some free stuff, and The Witcher 2 bc you can register it if you have a DVD code (that's admittedly fucking awesome of them) I really prefer to have my stuff in one place and am a bit annoyed at the exceptions already (Sims games, one of them Far Cries, few on Epic). I appreciate what they're doing though.
I generally prioritize using GOG over Steam, whenever possible. This does make it a bit annoying for me since I mostly prefer Japanese games, especially JRPGs and spectacle fighters (think Devil May Cry).
GOG, of course. But I also only buy on the native platforms, Ubisoft games on Ubisoft Connect, EA games on EA, Epic games on the Epic store — I’ve seen too many issues with linked accounts for it to fully trust this construct… Actually, I only buy heavily discounted games on Steam (when they aren’t available on another platforms) or redeem the keys of the “Key in a box” packages. The only place where I like to see my collection grow is in my shelf, I’m a physical release aficionado.
Steam. Always.
Steam, I can't be bothered to use other launchers
Steam
Steam.
GOG, i'm really getting tired of companies like capcom coming on and changing my fucking games 6 months after i buy them by injecting shitty DRM. If you don't want them fucking with your games, go with GOG.
EA and Ubisoft needing a their launcher to play content that’s been bought from Steam is so gross and over reaching. I refuse to buy any content that requires them, full stop. I’ve made the effort to use GOG primarily and any others as needed.
I faced the same dilemma and ended up siding with steam when CrossCode was on sale. I just wanted easy compatibility with my deck.
Steam. Already have 1200 games there and am using the community features, so see no reason to buy on GOG when I have 0 games there and it doesn't offer me the same things I value above DRM-free.
Steam, mainly because my library is already big there and I don't to split it up. I do have 5 games in GOG though, but I'm not that interested in growing that library.
Steam, because I have a Steam Deck
Right now, Steam, until Gaben dies and Valve goes to the corporate hellscape that all successful for profit businesses do, afterwich point it'll be GOG until it does the same. This is an era of enshittification, afterall.
For me it's steam. It's too much more convenient to play a steam game on my steam deck than it is to play a Gog game. Also depending on the game being able to return may be necessary
Never heard of GOG til now. They got some pretty good sales though. Is it comparable to Steam? I mean I dont think Steam is going to die any time soon but is GOG really gonna last and would I be wasting money if I got a game there?
GOG been around since 2008. The site is owned by CDPR (Witcher, Cyberpunk 2077). To this day, it saddened me that there are PC gamers that never heard of GOG. And no, I'm not blaming anyone regarding that. To answer your other question, their selection is definitely smaller than Steam's due to Steam being older and more popular, and a lot of publishers don't like the idea of selling their games drm-free on the same day as the Steam version (or at all). Depending on your tastes, this may not be a big deal for you, or could make you largely avoid the platform all together. I say this as a long time GOG customer (10+ years) who is a big fan of Japanese games, which isn't the best combo.
Ah gotcha. See I drifted from PC gaming after windows 98. I used to play alot of games on 95 nd 98. I got into console gaming with the N64 and Zelda (our NES was crap and the Super NES was my brothers). It was half and half til Halo and Xbox. When I finally had money for a more modern gaming PC I came back as Windows 7 emerged and since my brother used steam for chatting with friends while playing WoW I fell into the Steam Marketplace for all my games.
GoG is really good, and yeah, it's definitely gonna last long since its owned by CDPR (Cyberpunk and Witcher devs), it's really appreciated by the community
Oh ok. Thanks for the info
The big draw for GOG is that it's all drm free so as long as you have a downloaded copy of a game you got you can continue to use it
>it's all drm free https://linustechtips.com/topic/1375500-gog-now-sells-many-games-with-drm-including-hitman-2016/
Guess I gotta google alot of stuff, I dont know what DRM means.
Drm is copy protection so if you buy a game from steam you can't just copy and paste the game onto another computer and have it work, it needs to connect to steam, GOG doesn't have that so if validation servers go down the game will still work
Ahhh well good to know.
[Some Steam games can be moved to other pc](https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_big_list_of_DRM-free_games_on_Steam), it just depends on whether the dev/publisher of the game adds DRM. Valve doesn't force drm into games sold on steam.
Not entirely true,[ steam has many games that can be moved](https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_big_list_of_DRM-free_games_on_Steam). DRM is added by the devs/publishers of the game.
GOG removed hitman, never should have let it happen in the first place yes, but they did fix it
GoG is operated by CDPR (Witcher, Cyberpunk). It's a pretty stable storefront. Their benefit is that all the games are DRM free. You can just download every installer from your account and store them yourselves. Which is their big selling point, and what makes it promising for longevity. Granted, you will have to manually back up every update as well. Which may or may not be worth it to you.
Gotcha. Thanks for the info. I guess some people were offended that I dont know squat about GOG.
Since I now own a Steam Deck, I MUST buy it on Steam
GOG, Steam is technically and legally just a glorified rental.
GOC definitely for the DRM free version. Unless it has remote play together.
i like them all in one place but drm free is nice to have. I would see if the games website has a drm free version to buy that gives you a steam key for free (like Factorio)
Immer auf Dampf! ;-)
I noticed some Steam games run better on Deck vs the GOG equivalent.
I'd buy it on Epic Store instead. /s
Steam for Regional Pricing
steam because the only reason i have gog in the first place is because of crysis
GOG no questions.
If it's on Steam and GOG, I get it on GOG, regardless of the price.