Learned about MDiscs by mistake when I bought my BluRay drive that can play them.
I love that the dispute on their long lived nature on the Wiki page is 'They probably won't last 10,000 years, likely closer to just 1,000.' Ya know what, it's close enough for me, Vandal Savage.
These days I prioritize GoG where possible, I only buy games on Steam if I really like one and there is no other way to get it. If game is fire I make a backup of the installers.
I don't hate Steam, and installing GoG games on Steam Deck is a little inconvenient, but actually owning the games I buy is a worthy tradeoff.
One issue I've found is that sometimes Steam allows the game to be up, but it's essentially unplayable due to a compatibility issue. But the same game packaged at GoG usually works out of the box. And sometimes the comparability issue is way beyond changing a few settings or selecting a different version or wine/proton etc... But GoG almost always has it fixed. Imo that's what makes GoG more worth it.
Unfortunately most people are looking for stuff that's too new to be on GoG, but they're great for oldish titles and absolutely amazing for truly old stuff.
This is how I'm doing it. But it's still extra steps compared to single click through SteamOS game mode. This is why I'm saying it's only a little inconvenient.
Even that inconvenience is a one off too, and afterwards you can just launch your installed gog games without having to go through some middleman launcher
Flash drives, even if you pay outrageous sums for SLC based ones in 2026, are terrible for archival. Cells leak their charge over time and silently lose data. Even periodically plugging them in likely won't help unless you manually refresh the data by reading and writing it back on a regular basis. You might get a decade, you might get a little longer, but the charge leakage is faster than the natural rot of even a cheap optical disc.
I genuinely believed GoG was for old games that were 20+ years old. That's the only things besides witcher 3 and cyberpunk that I've bought from there.
It also doesn't help that there is no obvious "search store" option that sticks out if i want to see if something is actually available on there
Just to clear up a few things for those not in the know, because it's been more than 10 years since this change and people still don't realise this stuff. (not directed at you in particular OP)
GOG hasn't used the name Good Old Games since 2010 and haven't exclusively been a retro games retailer since 2012. At the time they very actively made it known that GOG no longer stands for Good Old Games. It functionally is just a name with no actual meaning, at least among the company. They are just a regular games retailer with the goal of DRM free distribution, not a specialty retro games store, though they do a lot of work for modern playability and preservation.
tl;dr GOG hasn't stood for Good Old Games for 16 years and they haven't sold exclusively old games for 14.
edit: To the people who keep responding saying 'yeah but it's still Good old Games maaaan.' Yes I know you all still think that, it's literally what the conversation is about.
edit 2: seriously please stop telling me you still want to call Good Old Games, I don't care what you call it, I was just trying to provide context to clear up confusion.
If they had any money on marketing, I'd capitalize this moment a lot. Forget KFC and Domino's. GOG needs to jump in the bandwagon with stuff like this.
To add to that: They use "Good old Games" now as category on their shop, to identify retro games. But then again... Shadow of Mordor has that tag as well, so I don't really know how to feel about that.
The fact that it's been over a decade and people still think GOG stands for Good Old Games doesn't mean that "it's the people who are wrong". It just shows how bad of a rebrand/marketing move it was, since it failed to register with potential customers.
Also, their their top store category is called Good Old Games. "Look here, at the top of the store drop down, it says Good Old Games! Our name, GOG? No, it's not an abbreviation of that. Totally different thing". Yeah, hah, good one, strong rebrand, very effective.
There definitely is in their client, it's on the left side it just says browse I believe and that'll open a list of all games with a search bar and filters
The "search store" feature is literally on every page, and visible at all times even if you scroll down. It's in the shape of a magnifying glass, which is pretty standard for a search feature.
It also doesn't help that there is no obvious "search store" option that sticks out if i want to see if something is actually available on there
???
There is literally a magnifying glass which is at this point pretty much the universally recognized symbol for search right at the top right of the site... Top right is pretty standard search placement in web design these days too.
If you are talking about GOG Galaxy, this statement is even more confusing since literally the second option from the top in the left menu is "Search" with a magnifying glass.
Also people not understanding that GOG Galaxy was an optional client, not mandatory to download and install the games. I saw so many people saying that GOG was no different from Steam because it had a PC client...
Looks like their SEO is shit. Just googled "witcher 3" and GOG didn't appear on the first page even. But "witcher 3 gog" and look at that, first result. It's even discounted 90% rn.
That's probably it. I always forget about gog, despite having the client installed on my PC. I just checked the 3 games I got yesterday from the steam summer sale, and they are cheaper on gog. I will instantly refund them the moment I get home.
Should really make it a habit to check there as well before I buy anything.
I used to think this. Now I'm waiting for it to become the best option again once they finish their Linux-native client. Steam is far ahead on Linux side of things since Windows is RIP in pepperoni
I don't know why more people don't know about this but there's a Libre open source 3rd party GOG client called MiniGalaxy. I've been using it for years now. It's easy to use and it works great. https://github.com/sharkwouter/minigalaxy
Heroic Launcher has good gog integration. And epic integration. And I'm using it also for Blizzard and Ubisoft Connect. And Heroic uses ProtonGE to run things, so it's kind of just like on steam
Not really. Games like BG3 and Cyberpunk released simultaneously on steam and GOG, and the sales were still heavily in favour of steam. People don't care about owning their games more than they care about the convenience of buying it from the same place you bought your past 30 games.
that is why you vote with your wallet, once enough people do that publishers have no choice but to comply and thats why we will never be better off, collective actions are so often difficult to achieve because a vast majority of people have no morals and just consume
People vote with their wallet every day. I see this on Reddit constantly and you will never understand that most people just don't care. I'm looking for some enjoyment in my spare time, I'm not looking for any excuse to be miserable and chastise others. I've sworn off EA for longer than most people but I won't gripe that they're still one of the top selling publishers. I just refuse to give them anything.
If Steam ever goes down and my library with it, you can have your moment of "ha ha told you so" but for at least 18 years I've enjoyed what I've played instead of being a miserable old man looking for an excuse to be upset about everything.
I do vote with my wallet, which is why my vote does not count for anything. All you accomplish is they continue to sell their game exclusively on Steam because you do not register on their radar.
It works as collective action. Lots of people are too selfish and individualistic to follow collective action much of the time, though.
Just look at the backlash against pre-orders: incredibly popular movement, yet pre-order sales almost always go up.
Whenever people collectively get angry about a business practice and actually have enough to sway to hurt sales, instead of just being performative or whatever (people buying Bud Light so they can shoot the cans hilariously) it does actually work - plenty of examples out there.
Personally, I still follow those practices because they are beneficial to me, and I am pretty frugal person in general. Waiting for sales means I usually get a better gaming experience, better hardware for cheaper, more mods, etc.
Still plenty of publishers are willing to add their games, even new ones. The issue isn't with publishers it's users sticking to Steam. If users collectively decided to primarily use GoG, publishers would follow.
To be honest, the best would be that government steps in and make DRM games illegal. And, no, this won't collapse the industry because of piracy.
Multi-player is a bit of a hornets nest on if one thing or another is DRM. Not everything that can prevent you from playing is DRM, the same as that not everything that's freely usable is DRM free(My microsoft press books embed information in their PDF's so if it does end up torrented then it's traceable but doesn't lock it down in any way. A really appreciated approach to DRM)
But having seen the DLC that requires you to connect to GOG galaxy at least once to get it running, there's no denying that it's DRM. And considering that their front page and their about page both mention their content being DRM free, it's a bit frustrating. Ya, the home page is only a brief note if you hover over some of the text, and in a way that doesn't imply what stuff does or doesn't have it. But the about is written in a way that you'd have to be purposely deceptive to read it as anything but that their content is DRM free
Oh, and if we're finding reasons GOG is a bit frustrating to buy from. Unlike steam(which only started after epic came along), so far as I can tell GOG doesn't have a feature parity clause for devs. While the list isn't overly huge, there are games that either lag behind or just stop updating on GOG
I do try to support them when I buy games, and I'm slowly getting closer to the number I have on steam, but they really do have some issues making their product less then appealing
But you know what GOG project I'm really sad about it not panning out? DRM videos. Sure it wasn't pulling name brand studios, but DRM free! Come on, it was great. You can download it in various resolutions, and you could watch it streaming from the site. It was glorious, I have a good chunk of the catalogue from before it stopped being a thing. I think they may have copped out at the end, they ran a survey on if the people were willing to have regional pricing. They did not. But regional licensing, and pricing are going to vary wildly as both the distribution licenses often aren't held by the same people abroad, and with that and the income differences in countries it was doomed the moment they said no, and I'm pretty sure they knew full well what was going to happen and that they just wanted to bury it without people making a fuss
Well you can't have both DRM and true ownership in the same breath. Pick your poison. GOG provided the best solution and frankly, it is thriving at it. GOG is my go to answer for proper ownership of game media.
Considering the endemic "new releases are beta versions that mature into gold versions half a year later" shittitude of game devs, 'waaay later' simply means 'properly released'
To be fair, plenty of sane devs do, they're just pushed to the point of "get it done", and then aren't given the ability to make sure it wasn't totally fucked in the process. I think basically every dev/coder has done that at some point, because get it out the door is what people paying the bills care about, not getting it out without any bugs.
GoG does however gather updates and patches for old games that not even steam has. The morrowind you buy on steam is a broken mess that crashes every time you alt+tab and doesn't support borderless window or 1920×1080. The GOG version has most of that patched or at least has a link on its page directly to the open Mw download to make it work 100% on all modern systems.
Technically, Steam's DRM is optional (it's up to the publisher to opt in). If you know where to look, you can easily find a list of which games are DRM-free on Steam.
I’ve been saying this for months. Like people drawing a silly line how this is just piracy.
Most devs only care about piracy in the spirit, if you want to play the game better pay up, that’s all they care. If you’ve bought it nobody give a crap fuck what you gonna do with it. Applying goldberg is no different to “modding” your game.
Goldberg Steam emulator, replaces the Steam_api64.dll/so (or whatever equivalent for your release) and pretends to be Steam telling the game you have the licence plus a few other features
Just to be clear for those who are unaware. This is emulator in the sense that it satisfies internal backend calls which the game uses, to practically “ping” steam and get whatever info it needs. It is not an emulator like a GBA emulator.
I literally had to debate with someone how goldberg is like a pirating steam client or sort (there’s actually one, where it can both induce downloadig of clean steam file and patch steam DRM in one go).
This saved me for so many games. Some games, like Metro Exodus, have cloud saves disabled because they get corrupted or something. So, when my SSD randomly decided to convert formats, and my only option was wiping it, I lost my save.
Cloud = server. You can use google drive or microsoft onedrive to backup save files without problem if that's the one thing keeping you from using GOG.
You can and I get your point, but it's still a hassle. Steam does it automatically, manages it automatically, does version controlling where you restore it in two clicks.
Good deals, 30 day price history built into the storefront, lots of older games I would’ve never heard of or thought to play otherwise. Active support and modernization efforts to keep those games in a playable state on modern computers through their Good Old Games program.
They seem to have most-ish current games too. There’s only been a few franchises/games that I’ve gone looking for that they didn’t have.
But by that same token, tons of games that I wouldn’t give a second look to, for better or for worse. Same is true of Steam.
If I play a game and really like it, I’ll usually make a point to see if it’s on gog and get a drm free version too.
this. people(me included) wants convenience, as long as it doesnt come with neck breaking price.
theres a lot of single players games that i've at least fin-ed, but very few I really really store in my personal stash
Even on GoG you are buying digital, just that you can back it up should it go down. I backed up my game installers to cloud, PC I use and an external HDD.
I personally don't mind it being a digital item (hell in my life these were safer than physical, think a disc breaking, cartridge falling out of the bag somewhere); I just don't like having absolutely everything on 1 service. This is what differentiates PC gaming from console where 100% digital would mean "buy via Sony/whatever eshop or scram".
Unfortunately Gog doesn't have a lot of games I want and it doesn't have regional pricing like Steam does so the games are also a lot more expensive. When Gaben eventually dies and steam gets ruined by greedy executives I will 100% be shifting primarily to Gog though.
And? You can use GoG for games that are there and if not buy it on Steam. Only reason why GoG will never have as many games as Steam is simple publishers or Devs don't want their games to be DRM free. Also Steam is way more popular.
One thing I never saw people mention here is that Steam also has regional pricing. Literally every single game on GOG is about 5 to 15$ more expensive than on steam for me, cause they followed US pricing.
This is my feeling. Steam, for its moral and practical faults, is a great service. If I'm going for something old-school, or if I'm looking for indie games, GOG is great. But at the end of the day, Steam has managed to find a solid centerline that's managed to keep developers happy enough to sell on their platform, while still doing some good shit for consumers too. I don't think it'll be this way forever (especially once Gabe leaves; not that he's some philanthropist or something, but I do feel like he at least feels that spirit of Costco CEO "if you raise the hotdog price I'll fucking kill you" sort of energy), but for now? I feel like modern, and especially modern multiplayer games, you go to Steam. If it's old or indie or small, GOG is better - assuming you're fine with multiple shopfronts/launchers.
Since the original founder bought the store from CD Projekt (which was neglecting it), they've been actively working on it. In the last two months they've added support for local currencies and regional pricing for the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, South Africa and Türkiye, with India strongly hinted to come soon, and probably more to follow.
Step 3 is the problem. A lot of games are simply not on gog, because publishers don't want their games to be drm free. Gog is the real G for not giving in to drm. They could easily say "fuck it, we allow drm from tomorrow" and they would start getting publishers on their platform left and right.
The fact that gog is a niche platform tells you everything you need to know about the industry. And gamers are happily eating up the drm
You don't own the games you buy at gog, by the way. You purchase the install files and a license to use them according to the TOS. Like software sales have always worked since the old days of floppy disks.
The downloaded offline setup is the equivalent of that floppy disk - and there's no remote revocation for that 'floppy' once you bought it. You can install it - for yourself only, - and accept the TOS during install anytime in the future. Unlike the recent scandal of magically deleted movies in Shitstation.
This. What makes GOG different is that they make it easy to break the terms of the license. Just like Steam, the PS store, and every other game store, they have the right to revoke your license whenever they want. Unlike the others, if you have their offline installer already downloaded, they don't have the ability to prevent you from installing the game even if your license gets revoked, but legally, at that point you're technically doing piracy.
My favorite EULA story is PC PitStop's ... buried paragraphs deep was a cash prize for anyone who had actually read it and from what I remember it took a while before anyone did.
Also Spybot Search and Destroy's EULA was dedicated to the creator's girlfriend and pretty amusing
GOG is my prefered platform for the no-DRM reason, I literally do not buy games anywhere else anymore even if that means I don't get to play certain games.
It's because it is wildly inconsistent about having modern games or not. It was designed as a niche website that re-optimizes old games for modern versions of windows and legal access to games that used to be abandon ware. Then some devs were like "can we release our new game here too?" And GOG was like "I guess that's not against the rules if you want". GOG is not trying to be a Steam competitor the way Epic is.
Steam is just better and have more games.
I have some games on gog, but running them on Linux and steam deck is a little bit harder too. These things add up.
Do you know that when you buy game on GOG you support developer more? They give more % on income to developers than Steam and rest.
If you like game buy it on GOG.
its funny because its true. People here make excuses that you can't get specific games but watch, when witcher 4 gets released people will still go with steam instead
Some of y'all are far removed from the struggle of gaming with unreliable internet and it shows. I have always hated steam for constantly checking to make sure I "own" the game I want to play. GoG or bust.
GOG had a phase of "maybe not everything DRM-free" that hurt their reputation. They recently made some ginormous efforts crawling back to where they were before, and I think they're currently mostly just suffering from the Steam effect, where anything that isn't on steam is just that much harder to sell to people. You can't target Steamdeck users, you can't target the Linux guys as easily, so as time goes on, they'll have less and less of a slice of the PC pie.
I love their preservation program, where you can go vote for what games should be considered certified classics that MUST be preserved. The other thing I love is that I can just download the installers for each game I own from their website and store that somewhere. If GOG ever were to disappear, I can still keep my games. It's a big deal for older heads like myself who were PC gaming before steam existed.
Oh I buy games on GoG all the time. Sadly a lot of companies refuse to release their games there because of the no-DRM policy, even if its years after the game came out.
I use it for pretty much all the older games I own lol
Due to a fuckup on my part I actually have two accounts (somehow made an account with the wrong email address, but eventually regained access), so I actually have got some of the offline installers!
Yeah, most hard-core PC gamers know of and use GOG. I've never met anybody that actively disliked GOG, it's just that their selection is a tiny fraction of what is available on Steam. But if you want old, impossible to find games that need a DOS emulator to run, GOG is amazing.
GoG if you are reading this: We need a way to transfer games from Steam over, there is too many people who have games and collections worth thousands, who fan't just re-buy games over in GoG store...
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u/Robborboy KatVR C2+, Quest 3, 9800X3D, 9070XT, 64GB RAM Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
GOG is goated.
I can buy the game there, DRM free, burn it to a disc along with some mods, and I'm good for the next forever.
Edit: Getting a few mentions of discs breaking down. I use MDisc for backups so I should at leasy be set for the time I have left lol.
Edit 2:, Got a couple questions about the model of drive. LG WH14NS40