Epic Games Joins GOG in the Goal to Deliver Universal Ownership of Digital Goods

[AleksandarK]

Today owning digital copies of games is a real struggle. There are are many platforms that offer games to be purchased, and some games are platform-specific. Take a look at Fortnite for example. It is only available on the Epic Games platform and launcher, so you have to download and sign-up to that if you wish to play the game. The PC platform is currently struggling with that problem as there is no unified store where you can purchase all of your digital copies of games. That is the main reason why Good Old Games, called GOG shortly, has decided to invite Epic Games and make a universal launcher for all storefronts.

The GOG Galaxy 2.0 is a new storefront that aims to give gamers the ability to "Install and launch any PC game you own, no matter the platform." With Epic Games joining the platform, it is a matter of time before others join. Some are still resistant, however. Steam and Origin are still not okay with that idea and they are keeping it to themselves. It is interesting to see the development of this, and in the meantime, you can check out GOG Galaxy 2.0 here.


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[jayseearr]

Interesting idea. Certainly would be convenient for us but I have my doubts,

I think conflicting business interests and egos will surely keep this idea or "venture" from being what it aspires to be. At the end of the day, if origins and steam aren't on board this will only go so far for most people.

 

[Rean]

Interesting idea. Certainly would be convenient for us but I have my doubts,

I think conflicting business interests and egos will surely keep this idea or "venture" from being what it aspires to be. At the end of the day, if origins and steam aren't on board this will only go so far for most people.

I'm pretty sure that Steam is the most important party in opposition to this, they hold a huge majority of the PC Marketplace. Origin is close to being a non-factor in comparison.

 

[Caring1]

Ownership of digital goods is an oxymoron.
You pay for the right to use the product only.

 

[jayseearr]

I'm pretty sure that Steam is the most important party in opposition to this, they hold a huge majority of the PC Marketplace. Origin is close to being a non-factor in comparison.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you're right. Although for me personally I use both origins and steam, so while origins may be less of a factor, it's still a factor...

 

[bug]

All nice and everything, but what does this do to GOG's "no-DRM" (save for the online requirements) policy?

 

[Frick]

Title says it's done, text says it isn't.

 

[Parn]

This is wishful thinking although I very much like it to be true.

How are they going to share the revenues on the those store exclusive titles? And as long as multi-layer online DRMs exist, players will never truely own the games.

 

[xtreemchaos]

its the way to go for sure not sure epic will be up for it or any other platform but ill keep my fingers crossed.

 

[Rean]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you're right. Although for me personally I use both origins and steam, so while origins may be less of a factor, it's still a factor...

Wew that's gotta be rough.. It's really annoying that Origin isn't as well-developed as its counterparts tbh. Even UPlay is now far more usable than before.

 

[jayseearr]

Wew that's gotta be rough.. It's really annoying that Origin isn't as well-developed as its counterparts tbh. Even UPlay is now far more usable than before.

It's gotta be rough? What's gotta be rough, using origins? It's not. It's pretty easy actually i click on it, it opens and then i use it just like anything else. It would be nice if i didn't need it though

 

[bug]

its the way to go for sure not sure epic will be up for it or any other platform but ill keep my fingers crossed.

If you think about it, since you really only buy the right to access the IP, they shouldn't confine you to a platform either. But that's not going to happen as long as they can nickel and dime you.

 

[Rean]

It's gotta be rough? What's gotta be rough, using origins? It's not. It's pretty easy actually i click on it, it opens and then i use it just like anything else. It would be nice if i didn't need it though

It constantly loses connection for me for some reason, among other issues.

 

[jayseearr]

Well I haven't had any issues but admittedly I haven't been using it for that long. To be honest I can't remember having a serious issue with any launcher platform I just find it to be kind of a nuisance that so many launchers and platforms are needed, that's all...

 

[bug]

Well I haven't had any issues but admittedly I haven't been using it for that long. To be honest I can't remember having a serious issue with any launcher platform I just find it to be kind of a nuisance that so many launchers and platforms are needed, that's all...

Not to mention they all want to run at startup. You can stop that, but then you have to remember to start them by hand when you want to play something. I'd much rather these launcher didn't run on startup, but games purchased through them would start the launcher for you when they detect the required launcher is not running.
But who cares about UX, these are only there to police your purchases.

 

[AsRock]

I need to look more in to this for my self, as much as i love CDPR i have no love for EPIC.

 

[jayseearr]

Not to mention they all want to run at startup. You can stop that, but then you have to remember to start them by hand when you want to play something. I'd much rather these launcher didn't run on startup, but games purchased through them would start the launcher for you when they detect the required launcher is not running.
But who cares about UX, these are only there to police your purchases.

Then occasionally you run into situations that seem completely backwards, like for example not too long ago epic launcher offered gta5 for free and I had actually never played it believe it or not so i downloaded it thru epic launcher but then it required me to download the rockstar launcher as well, so since i got gta thru the epic launcher but it actually requires rockstar launcher to run now all of a sudden i had to actually run two different launchers just for 1 game

 

[bug]

Then occasionally you run into situations that seem completely backwards, like for example not too long ago epic launcher offered gta5 for free and I had actually never played it believe it or not so i downloaded it thru epic launcher but then it required me to download the rockstar launcher as well, so since i got gta thru the epic launcher but it actually requires rockstar launcher to run now all of a sudden i had to actually run two different launchers just for 1 game

I wouldn't know, GOG is where I draw the line. Before that I used StarDock's Impulse (rip). Saved a lot of $$$ in the process, too

 

[medi01]

Doesn't GOG client already cover Steam store games as well?

 

[EatingDirt]

Not to mention they all want to run at startup. You can stop that, but then you have to remember to start them by hand when you want to play something. I'd much rather these launcher didn't run on startup, but games purchased through them would start the launcher for you when they detect the required launcher is not running.
But who cares about UX, these are only there to police your purchases.

GOG Galaxy 2.0 will launch the launcher to the corresponding game, and can close the client automatically after you've stopped playing. It's extremely convenient for games on launchers you wouldn't normally start up. The only client I continue to keep open besides GOG Galaxy 2.0 is Steam, because that's where the majority of the games & friends are.

 

[neatfeatguy]

I like when GoG is able to get publishers to agree to let people "port" (for lack of a better word than I can think of at the moment) a game you own on Steam over to GoG. I think I've been able to move a couple dozen games from Steam over to my GoG account over the past few years - now I have a copy of the games on both platforms. Usually it's a very limited time frame you get to do this and you can only do it when GoG gets approval from a publisher - so it's not a common place thing.

Why would most companies want a customer that paid for their game on one platform get it free on another platform? That's my guess as to why it's not more widely accepted and used.

I don't purchase anything off EGS - just haven't had any need to use it. I hear that some games launch without EGS running and some require it to run. Hopefully in the not so distant future this would mean that EGS will also be completely DRM free (unless they already do this?) on any games they sell so people can so they can download and run a game whenever, wherever they want to without any kind of launcher required.

I love me my GoG Galaxy 2.0. My brother and I have been having a blast co-oping Divinity: Original Sin 2 that we picked up on GoG. When new co-op type games are coming out, we're checking out their availability on GoG or if it's Ubisoft, we're okay with buying through Uplay. We both greatly dislike Steam now that it's turned into a massive social media platform that's poorly coded and optimized. Anything that can stick a thorn in Steam's side is okay in my books. Here's hoping more jump on the bandwagon and Steam is brought down to their knees, making the crawl and change their ways and beg for customers to come back.

 

[Vayra86]

Hang on guys, I'm still struggling with all my digital media. Firstworldproblems much?

Let's not call a desire for higher degree of comfort 'a struggle' now. It doesn't work well on the scale of all the things that are actual struggles. Its a luxury problem. Was it a 'struggle' back in the day to insert a CD into your player for game X Y or Z? And let's not even mention the games that came on 4 CD-ROMs... Baldur's Gate 2, hi. Or the fact you'd need the disc to begin with.

We have, today, all our content on demand (literally at your fingertips) and NOT taking our storage space if we don't use it (its in the cloud ready to go/download), and we have applications that can simply pull all of that content into one nice list for you to click on thumb sized icons with a picture clarifying what game it is. You don't even need to be able to read. Fun fact: illiteracy percentage of population is also on the rise and has been ever since gaming is growing. Not saying cause > effect, but it is evident people can use some stimuli to keep doing things themselves, or we devolve into stupid. The first lines of this very article kind of underline it well. The above is now a 'struggle' It also detracts from the much more important matter at hand. Ownership.

I do like the idea: content usage is platform independant as it should be, and the seller/distributor is just that - it moves data around and gets money for it. The idea that there is some form of ownership tied to distribution is utterly ridiculous. And it will not hold in court, but we have yet to see that 'struggle' end up there

But yeah... said before, will say again... why reinvent the wheel and tie yourself to a NEW place with commercial outlook? As much as I like GoG... it really is just another tiny Steam with somewhat better conditions. The app below is not in beta but feature complete and will always work and you can put pretty much every exe in there that you fancy. Modded, unofficial, illegal, platform XYZ... whatever you want, and without the looming threat of telemetry or someone taking a peek at what you've got. Or constant UI changes.

Playnite - video game library manager

Video game library manager with one simple goal: To provide a unified interface for all of your games.

playnite.link

 

[Ashtr1x]

I buy games on GOG but not going to install this client, I have offline installers with me which is what I pay for, pure no-DRM installations for great SP games. EGS is crappy store with ties to Tencent which is against HK and a pawn of CCP, with the current climate on the Orwellian drama going on in HK, and the rampant control of IP and Entertainment industry from Games, Movies by Tencent & to make it worse, EGS exclusivity PC Game deals. A big F. NO.

Also perhaps it might help people who want another client installed, but we never know what DRM creeps up in this so called "Online" "Digital" world, MP aspects of games are dead even on GOG, thanks to GaaS. Very few games have Local LAN MP. Shame that Halo MCC doesn't have it but instead have to bend over with XBL DRM.

 

[bug]

GOG Galaxy 2.0 will launch the launcher to the corresponding game, and can close the client automatically after you've stopped playing. It's extremely convenient for games on launchers you wouldn't normally start up. The only client I continue to keep open besides GOG Galaxy 2.0 is Steam, because that's where the majority of the games & friends are.

Well, GOG launcher is not actually needed to play a game.

 

[EatingDirt]

Well, GOG launcher is not actually needed to play a game.

This wasn't what you were talking about.

Not to mention they all want to run at startup. You can stop that, (1)but then you have to remember to start them by hand when you want to play something. (2)I'd much rather these launcher didn't run on startup, but games purchased through them would start the launcher for you when they detect the required launcher is not running.
But who cares about UX, these are only there to police your purchases.

I was pointing out that you:
1. Don't need to remember to launch the clients if you use GOG Galaxy.
2. GoG galaxy does exactly what you want, it detects you wanting to run the game and starts both the launcher and the game. It will even close the launcher for you after you're done, if you change some settings. You don't need to have any other launcher active if you use Galaxy.