GOG Partners with Epic Games to Expand into a Universal Storefront

[Uskompuf]

GOG have recently announced plans to expand their platform into a universal storefront allowing gamers to purchase and launch titles from other platforms within GOG. The first partner GOG has secured for its GOG Galaxy store is the Epic Games Store who will be bringing over a number of titles to the new store including exclusives such as The Outer Worlds. This new feature is currently in a closed internal beta as GOG works to finalize the store with no specific release date given. GOG did not provide any information regarding any potential revenue sharing model with Epic, it will be interesting to see what other storefronts GOG will be able to bring to the platform.





Full Press Release

We created GOG GALAXY 2.0 to give gamers a better way of organizing all their games across multiple gaming platforms into one library. Since its launch, the most requested new feature has been the option to buy games not only from GOG.COM, but from other platforms as well, straight from the GOG GALAXY app.

Today, we're happy to invite the first group of gamers to test the brand new store we're working on, and share their feedback with us.

In the new store, we will be welcoming games from both GOG.COM and beyond - including titles previously exclusive only to other gaming platforms. With the internal beta launching today, invited users will have the option to buy games from a selection of hand-picked Epic Games Store exclusive titles, alongside all GOG.COM games. Most importantly, all purchases are covered by our 30-days refund policy as well as 24/7 human support.

There is still plenty of work ahead of us. As the internal beta test continues, we will be inviting more gamers, expanding the store's catalog and introducing new features. For a chance to be part of this test, join GOG GALAXY today at gogalaxy.com.

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[Nephilim666]

If they're DRM free then that's fine. If not then boooo

 

[delshay]

If they're DRM free then that's fine. If not then boooo

Epic made a statement not to long ago & said "if you buy a game, you should own it outright".

When you bought games many years ago on CDs, DVDs, you more or less owned them outright. Personnel, I'm not a fan of logging in to start a game, so my first port of call when buying a game is GOG. You can start some EPIC games without logging in, just create a shortcut from the game folder.

 

[AusWolf]

2 thoughts on this:

1. Very interesting move from Epic. Somehow they've presented themselves as the "no, you can't play our games without having an account with us" kind of bully to me. This agreement is a step in the opposite direction which I welcome.

2. If GOG manages to bring Valve on board with my almost 300 games on Steam, but now DRM-free, I guess I won't really need any other launcher from that point.

 

[Varázsló]

You still have to have an epic account. It is then synchronized to your GOG Galaxy client.

 

[Valantar]

GOG Galaxy is already what I use to launch all my games - yes, the other launchers still need to be installed, and will be triggered by launching through GOG, but at least I don't have to browse five different libraries. Further simplifying this is a great move, kudos to Epic for joining in.

 

[ValenOne]

I usually check GOG 1st before MS Store, Steam, Epic, UPlay, and Origin.

 

[Vayra86]

Epic going the GOG way? Hmmm not seeing that happen anytime soon. They will offer a single portal, its probably win win because GOG gets extra exposure and Sweeney won't have to make his store actually run proper too much. I mean its honestly still not a very great place to browse on, with the 15-30 FPS you get on that thing and the totally clunky UI. Galaxy is in a MUCH better place and time to market is key for Epic. They've got too much on their hands clearly, if you look at how the store features expand as well.

I also think Epic is definitely not wanting to go fat and bloated with their Store app too much. They want to distribute the damn game and be done with it. Play, have fun, you bought something, Kthxbai - that seems to be what Epic is looking for. I bloody love it. This is what a distributor should do and be. Deliver your shit and get out of the way.

This also fits right in with the low distribution % Epic wants. They just don't have the budget in there to maintain a Steam-equivalent, and let's face it, its also much healthier to get the existing third parties in the industry get their 15 minutes of fame. I can totally see them get into similar deals with sites like Nexusmods et al. And I totally want them to.

 

[AusWolf]

You still have to have an epic account. It is then synchronized to your GOG Galaxy client.

What's new then? You've already had the chance to synchronise GOG Galaxy with various different accounts for ages.

 

[Selaya]

I always figured the reason to purchase from GOG is to be able to play your games without having to install/launch a fucking client/launcher/w/e you want to call it ...

 

[mahirzukic2]

What's new then? You've already had the chance to synchronise GOG Galaxy with various different accounts for ages.

So you haven't read the first sentence in the article, eh?
Let me get that for you:

GOG have recently announced plans to expand their platform into a universal storefront allowing gamers to purchase and launch titles from other platforms within GOG

 

[rtwjunkie]

If they're DRM free then that's fine. If not then boooo

Relax, they won’t be bringing any non-DRM games over.

Also, for a large number of games on EGS the only DRM is the Epic Launcher. Just FYI.

If GOG manages to bring Valve on board with my almost 300 games on Steam, but now DRM-free, I guess I won't really need any other launcher from that point.

GLWT. That is never gonna happen with Valve.

You still have to have an epic account. It is then synchronized to your GOG Galaxy client.

Why do I need to use Galaxy to do this? I haven’t needed Galaxy for any of my over 400 games on GOG yet.

 

[INSTG8R]

Why do I need to use Galaxy to do this? I haven’t needed Galaxy for any of my over 400 games on GOG yet.

Galaxy allows you to have pretty much all the of platforms games available(incl Playstation for some reason) to do this you need to link your accounts. The first thing that impressed me was my Forza 4. It showed me all my achievements and play time things i had absolutely no info from MS about. It also basically has my “grand total” of games which I’m not sure I’m proud or ashamed of...

 

[rtwjunkie]

Galaxy allows you to have pretty much all the of platforms games available(incl Playstation for some reason) to do this you need to link your accounts. The first thing that impressed me was my Forza 4. It showed me all my achievements and play time things i had absolutely no info from MS about. It also basically has my “grand total” of games which I’m not sure I’m proud or ashamed of...

Yeah, not interested in having any of that. The thing I love about playing games the way I do once they come to GOG (from a shortcut) is because it’s practically a return to the dirt-simple days of playing PC games locally before Steam showed up.

 

[INSTG8R]

Yeah, not interested in having any of that. The thing Inlove about playing games the way I do once they come to GOG (from a shortcut) is because it’s practically a return to the dirt-simple days of playing PC games locally before Steam showed up.

Well they have basically created the solution that most complain about “another launcher” Galaxy is a single
launcher with. ALL your games in one place. How can this not be a good thing?

 

[rtwjunkie]

Well they have basically created the solution that most complain about “another launcher” Galaxy is a single
launcher with. ALL your games in one place. How can this not be a good thing?

Well because GOG not only sold itself to people originally as DRM-free, but as not needing any requirement to play their games...a simpler way. They haven’t required it yet, but the number of ways they push Galaxy is getting close to breaking that idea.

The more they push, the more I resist. I had ane employee helping me with a game problem who suggested I use Galaxy, then there would be no problem. That was the second time that happened...from a company that sold itself on being completely unlike everyone else, and needing nothing but the game.

 

[INSTG8R]

Well because GOG not only sold itself to people originally as DRM-free, but as not needing any requirement to play their games...a simpler way. They haven’t required it yet, but the number of ways they push Galaxy is getting close to breaking that idea.

The more they push, the more I resist. I had ane employee helping me with a game problem who suggested I use Galaxy, then there would be no problem. That was the second time that happened...from a company that sold itself on being completely unlike everyone else, and needing nothing but the game.

Well I mean all your GoG games are there of course and you can choose who else you want there Is all up to you,
also it condenses all your friend lists as well which I think is a pretty neat feature I mean like you resist, you known I’ve been resisting EGS well Crysis got me to cave so trust me man it doesn’t hurt...much...It’s literally “The One Ring” for games I’m just a little surprised your against a genuine step of game launcher progress.

 

[Frick]

GOG Galaxy is already what I use to launch all my games - yes, the other launchers still need to be installed, and will be triggered by launching through GOG, but at least I don't have to browse five different libraries. Further simplifying this is a great move, kudos to Epic for joining in.

I dunno, Galaxy is by a wide margin the worst launcher of the bunch. I've had tons of bugs on both machines, some games just won't install and the only thing that makes it stop trying and failing to reinstall them in an endless loop is purging the system of Galaxy and reinstall it. Sometimes, on both machines, Galaxy just refuses to start, claiming it's missing essential components. Sometimes a reinstall helps, sometimes I need to wait a few weeks, download the installer again and then it works. Maybe. For a while, until it just stops working. And the UI is cumbersome, somehow, and it's really quite slow at installing games.

 

[Valantar]

Well because GOG not only sold itself to people originally as DRM-free, but as not needing any requirement to play their games...a simpler way. They haven’t required it yet, but the number of ways they push Galaxy is getting close to breaking that idea.

The more they push, the more I resist. I had ane employee helping me with a game problem who suggested I use Galaxy, then there would be no problem. That was the second time that happened...from a company that sold itself on being completely unlike everyone else, and needing nothing but the game.

I don't see how that's the case. Are GOG pushing Galaxy? Obviously. Why? The majority of gamers are already perfectly fine using launchers, so they are trying to get a better foothold in that market. Are they taking away the option to play without a launcher? Not at all.

Of course, the launcher offers quite a few benefits that "just an installer" play lacks (and can't have due to it necessitating a background application): online save sync and backups, automatic game updates, friend lists, a browsable game library of both installed and noninstalled games, etc. There's also an argument to be made for the convenience of launcher-based installations rather than manual ones.

The pros of entirely manual local installations are, as you say, the control and relative simplicity of not needing a separate application to launch your games, and the lack of automation from such an application meaning nothing happens unless you want it to. Which is also a perfectly legitimate preference.

The great thing with GOG is that they enable you to do as you wish. But there's no indication that this is going away, nor is this deal with Epic to serve as a reseller for their games any indication otherwise.

pretty much all the of platforms games available(incl Playstation for some reason)

If the goal is to have a single place to browse all your games, including consoles is a necessity IMO. Before Galaxy 2.0 there have been several times I've bought games that I later found out I already had through Xbox Live Gold or PS Plus. Keeping track of your various games across multiple different platforms is exactly the point of a consolidating launcher like this, after all.

I dunno, Galaxy is by a wide margin the worst launcher of the bunch. I've had tons of bugs on both machines, some games just won't install and the only thing that makes it stop trying and failing to reinstall them in an endless loop is purging the system of Galaxy and reinstall it. Sometimes, on both machines, Galaxy just refuses to start, claiming it's missing essential components. Sometimes a reinstall helps, sometimes I need to wait a few weeks, download the installer again and then it works. Maybe. For a while, until it just stops working. And the UI is cumbersome, somehow, and it's really quite slow at installing games.

Hm, that's weird. I've never had any issues across the three PCs I use it on. YMMV, I guess. I can't say I've found it to be slower than Steam or anything else at installing games either, but I don't tend to pay much attention to that - a >10GB download is going to take a while regardless of platform. And I for one really like the UI - I find it a lot more navigable than Steam (though I do wish for some more organizational features).

 

[rtwjunkie]

Are they taking away the option to play without a launcher? Not at all.

Yes, they actually are. Sometimes games are days or weeks behind in getting an offline installer update, or the original install version is behind the release version on Galaxy by two weeks as happened with Iron Harvest. Also keep in mind their “Help” personnel number 1 answer to everything is “maybe if you’d install Galaxy the problem would go away.”

Otherwise yes, I do get what you are saying on an intellectual level. I just object to the king of independent gaming now encouraging its members to be like everyone else. Trust me, once they have an overwhelming percentage of their users on Galaxy, the offline installers will go away. At least what I have already bought is stored on two separate locations.

 

[Vayra86]

Galaxy allows you to have pretty much all the of platforms games available(incl Playstation for some reason) to do this you need to link your accounts. The first thing that impressed me was my Forza 4. It showed me all my achievements and play time things i had absolutely no info from MS about. It also basically has my “grand total” of games which I’m not sure I’m proud or ashamed of...

Playnite has been doing this all along. You can add anything even plain exes, modded ones... all stores, platforms...

Only those friends lists might make GOGunique in this sense.

 

[INSTG8R]

Playnite has been doing this all along. You can add anything even plain exes, modded ones... all stores, platforms...

Only those friends lists might make GOGunique in this sense.

Yeah but outside of your previous mentions of it I had never heard of it.

 

[Vayra86]

Yeah but outside of your previous mentions of it I had never heard of it.

What strikes me as funny is that the third party services were here all along, even prior to EGS. That goes for voice, it goes for 'friends'... and even for libraries.

Seems like the penny is about to drop for a pretty large player base, then...

 

[INSTG8R]

Sure I remember Xfire and Teamspeak can’t remember the one we used before TS. There was the Ubi Lobby, HyperLobby the unforgettable Gamespy Etc all pioneers

 

[$ReaPeR$]

Interesting! I'm very curious to see the results of this.