GOG Preservation Program Proves Its Worth As 2 Warcraft Games Leave Storefront After 30 Years

[Cpt.Jank]

GOG (Good Old Games) recently announced its Preservation Program, an initiative to support and maintain old and abandoned games to ensure that they still function on modern hardware. Today, with the announcement of the removal of Warcraft: Orcs and Humans and Warcraft II from the GOG Store in the coming weeks, the GOG Preservation Program both hits its first hiccup and proves why it's necessary. On X today, GOG announced that the two aforementioned Warcraft games will soon disappear from the GOG store, becoming officially unsupported and essentially becoming abandonware.

According to the post, both Warcraft II and Orcs and Humans will no longer be available from the GOG store as of December 13, 2024, however, GOG will continue to ensure that the game remains compatible with modern hardware as part of the GOG Preservation Program. Additionally, while they will no longer be purchasable on GOG, the offline installation files will still be available to download after the games are removed from the GOG store, meaning even if players lose their installation or backed-up game installers, they will be able to recover their game.


The full GOG statement reads:

To the GOG Community and gamers all over the world:

We're deeply saddened to share the news that Warcraft: Orcs and Humans and Warcraft II will leave our store on December 13th, 2024.

At GOG, we believe that games should live forever. This means not only preserving them but also making sure they remain accessible, updated, and enjoyable on modern systems—everything the GOG Preservation Program is built to ensure. Yet, despite our dedication and best efforts, there are times when not everything goes as we'd hoped.

Seeing these masterpieces leave our store is tough, but it also serves as another reminder of why our mission at GOG is so important. With that in mind, we've decided to update one aspect of the GOG Preservation Program's policy:

Going forward, even if a game is no longer available for sale on GOG, as part of the GOG Preservation Program, it will continue to be maintained and updated by us, ensuring it remains compatible with modern and future systems.

We're incredibly proud of our work on both Warcraft: Orcs and Humans and Warcraft II, bringing them back to life after decades of unavailability and introducing several improvements to ensure the best possible experience, as close to the original as possible.

Although we'll soon no longer be able to offer these games in our store, anyone who purchased them before they were removed will still enjoy the most compatible, high-quality versions, guaranteed by the GOG Preservation Program.

And because we're DRM-free, you'll have access to their Offline Installers, ensuring lifetime access to enjoy them whenever you like. This is what these titles—and you as gamers—deserve.

Thank you to everyone who stands with us in our mission to preserve video games. It's not just about the games themselves; it's about honoring our shared journey as gamers.

Warcraft: Orcs and Humans was originally released in 1994, making 2024 the game's 30th anniversary. Meanwhile, Warcraft II isn't much newer, having been released in 1995, so it's not exactly the same situation as The Crew being shut down, making the game unplayable for existing owners after less than 10 years on the market. Still, for fans of the Warcraft franchise who either want to take the occasional stroll down memory lane or simply don't want to lose the potentially hundreds of hours they poured into the game, having the installation files available is likely a very valuable resource. Of course, GOG cannot make any promises that it won't disappear overnight, but the company is big enough that there will likely at least be signs of trouble before anything that drastic.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

I still have the original CDroms with CD keys. My last playthrough was under Linux with Wine, mounting the ISOs so I didn’t need an optical drive. Man, those were fun games. Sometimes I still announce “work complete” in a good Orc voice whenever I finish a project.

 

[Easo]

I guess the obvious reason are the remasters released last month.

 

[neatfeatguy]

I still have the original CDroms with CD keys. My last playthrough was under Linux with Wine, mounting the ISOs so I didn’t need an optical drive. Man, those were fun games. Sometimes I still announce “work complete” in a good Orc voice whenever I finish a project.

"This way! No that way!"

I think I have my WC2 copy somewhere, but thanks to my younger brother years ago the disc was so badly scratched all over I don't recall if it worked and if I even kept it. Same was said with the original WC game...so many lost games to the hands of an immature teenager that never asked my permission to use my PC games that I had boxed up and stored at the old folks house because I couldn't take everything to the dorms with me.

I digress. Maybe I should snag a copy of them before they vanish. I don't want any "remastered" trash looking versions from Blizzard.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Gee golly, who saw THIS coming with microsoft taking over Activision..

Anyone still think that was a good deal?

 

[DemonicRyzen666]

I guess the obvious reason are the remasters released last

Are they on G.o.g?
Most likely not.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Are they on G.o.g?
Most likely not.

It is possible. Weirder things have happened. However, if they do come to GOG it'll likely be at the same lethargic pace that the Quake1-Enhanced remaster came. Better late than never, but damn was it late..

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Here they are, classics. What I liked about both was that they played on PC and PowerPC Macs. No need to rebuy the game. And supporting NT4 was big. It was not a gaming OS, since it didn't get the Direct X updates that 95/98/Me all did.

 

[Legacy-ZA]

Gee golly, who saw THIS coming with microsoft taking over Activision..

Anyone still think that was a good deal?

I just wish Microsoft would remake Freelancer already, geeze, it's a fantastic game and it could really benefit from modern graphics and multi-player servers.

 

[Prima.Vera]

The remakes were released a couple of weeks ago and they are awesome.
Same feeling and gameplay, with updated graphics.

 

[lexluthermiester]

The remakes were released a couple of weeks ago and they are awesome.
Same feeling and gameplay, with updated graphics.

They were talking about being released on GOG..

 

[londiste]

I just wish Microsoft would remake Freelancer already, geeze, it's a fantastic game and it could really benefit from modern graphics and multi-player servers.

Freelancer was Chris Roberts' idea and brainchild. Star Citizen is pretty much the same idea, this time at the actual scale he wanted.

 

[Scrizz]

For me, I have the WC3 next to my Starcraft one

 

[Vayra86]

I guess the obvious reason are the remasters released last month.

This in a nutshell underlines the importance of piracy. Even relying on GoG (another market entity) to preserve games for us is not a guarantee legacy software is preserved. No amount of money guarantees it either. Only piracy does - the freedom to exchange software, or at least the capability.

Without that, you can safely rely on commerce to destroy it all, in due time. And we know at this point the remaster or renewed version of said software is barely, if ever, better than what we had. Its a strange world where development turns into a devolution, but that's literally where we're at now, ever since re-releasing old games is a business model.

 

[bug]

I still have the original CDroms with CD keys. My last playthrough was under Linux with Wine, mounting the ISOs so I didn’t need an optical drive. Man, those were fun games. Sometimes I still announce “work complete” in a good Orc voice whenever I finish a project.

"Do you like fire?"

 

[Prima.Vera]

They were talking about being released on GOG..

Yes. Of the original games. Maybe they will bring the remasters to GOG in the future, is OK. The WOW saga will not be lost.

 

[TheDeeGee]

Lucky there is this alternative GOG website which keeps hosting the games ^^

 

[ZoneDymo]

Dabuu, zan zan

 

[Paganstomp]

 

[Legacy-ZA]

Freelancer was Chris Roberts' idea and brainchild. Star Citizen is pretty much the same idea, this time at the actual scale he wanted.

We both know Starcitizen is never moving out of Alpha, the $$ is too good. Give Freelancer.

 

[Random_User]

"Zog-Zog".

I guess the obvious reason are the remasters released last month.

Indeed. But knowing, what a hot smelly garbage was Blizzards own D2:LoD remaster, I don't have any hopes. The "artistic vision", has to much deviation from an original, nowadays. Whatever suit their tastes, but not community... Anyway...

Gee golly, who saw THIS coming with microsoft taking over Activision..

Anyone still think that was a good deal?

All µ$ obviously wanted from both Acti-Bliz and Zenimax overtake, is the IP. Not the developers and talents, not their existing portfolio, but brand, to gouge. Milk, while it's still warm. Much like any other company, be it SW or HW one. I'm almost certain, this wouldn't be much different, whether, MS, or EA, or Ubi, or Sony buys the studios/publishers. The demise is the same.

 

[Ruru]

The remakes were released a couple of weeks ago and they are awesome.
Same feeling and gameplay, with updated graphics.

Just like with Diablo II. The remaster plays just as well as the original.

 

[neatfeatguy]

I just wish Microsoft would remake Freelancer already, geeze, it's a fantastic game and it could really benefit from modern graphics and multi-player servers.

I wouldn't trust them to do it well. Freelancer is, to my understanding, abandonware if anyone really wanted to find a copy. There are also servers still going to host multiplayer for Freelancer last time I looked around, which was a year or two ago.

I loved playing that game. Played through it a couple of times and still have my physical copy installed on my system.

 

[Legacy-ZA]

I wouldn't trust them to do it well. Freelancer is, to my understanding, abandonware if anyone really wanted to find a copy. There are also servers still going to host multiplayer for Freelancer last time I looked around, which was a year or two ago.

I loved playing that game. Played through it a couple of times and still have my physical copy installed on my system.

I can still play it with ease, I just want updated graphics. ^_^

 

[Easo]

Also it is not just remasters - old versions are on Battle.Net now as well. Clearly Blizzard does not want GoG to have their cut - even though W1 and W2 were both first republished on GoG...

"Zog-Zog".

Indeed. But knowing, what a hot smelly garbage was Blizzards own D2:LoD remaster, I don't have any hopes. The "artistic vision", has to much deviation from an original, nowadays. Whatever suit their tastes, but not community... Anyway...

Hmm, as far as I remember D2 remaster was received well (I too liked it). Still has active updates as well.