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> Can I still download offline installers? Yes. This is the only line I was looking for. I stopped buying on Steam sometime ago because I realized I was just r

• pjmlp 9mo ago
  I also refuse to install their shop, Web powered "native" apps only the unavoidable ones.
  • yunnpp 9mo ago
    I think the only value it adds is cloud saves. The UI is otherwise the worst way to explore your library or the store, crawls to death performance-wise and isn't even a good UX in principle. For example, if you're on page X of a search, click on a game, and go back, guess where that takes you? Yup, page 0 baby, going to have to click next X times again (there is also only previous and next; you can't fast-jump.) There are many more examples like that, I have filed survey responses several times on issues like this. The real goat would be if GOG Galaxy were available for Linux and integrated with Lutris/Proton so that you didn't have to worry about setup. Currently that relationship flows in the other direction, which I always found odd: Lutris integrates GOG (and Steam) games in its UI.
    • pjmlp 9mo ago
      I have it easier having Windows as main OS.
      • yunnpp 9mo ago
        I suffer Windows at work, so I stay clear of it in my personal stuff.
        • pjmlp 9mo ago
          I used to think like that, but doing Linux installs since 1995's Summer eventually gets tiring, especially in gaming and graphics workstation laptops, thus it lives on VMa for me.
          • yunnpp 9mo ago
            Just avoid Nvidia and you're good. Intel/AMD hardware works out of the box with Mesa.
    • badsectoracula 9mo ago
      > The real goat would be if GOG Galaxy were available for Linux and integrated with Lutris/Proton so that you didn't have to worry about setup. Heroic Launcher can download the game files for you and any dependencies, including Wine/Proton/etc. You basically install the launcher (can be available from your distro's repository), use your GOG login in the app and it shows your library. Then click install and it'll download the files locally and after that you play the game. The experience is more or less the same like in Steam, at least as far as downloading and playing games is concerned. I normally download the offline installers and use them with UMU Launcher (which is Proton without Steam, mainly meant to be used as a backend for projects like Lutris, Heroic, etc but you can use it directly from the command-line) but i just tried Heroic Launcher and all i had to do was run it, enter my GOG login and after it downloaded my library info, i was able to download and play a game the same way as in Steam. I'm not sure what official GOG Galaxy for Linux would add here TBH.
      • shmerl 9mo ago
        > I'm not sure what official GOG Galaxy for Linux would add here TBH. Two major things: * Backend Galaxy support for Linux builds * Multiplayer, achievements, cloud saves, etc. i.e. proper integration with optional GOG services for Linux versions.
      • yunnpp 9mo ago
        I was not aware of that launcher, thanks.
• daedrdev 9mo ago
  Im pretty sure I read in the past GoG still sells you a license to a game in perpetuity, rather than ownership Of corse, practically there is little difference since they provide offline installers, so its much better to use GoG if you care about this. The reason they also do this is because of copyright, the license allows games to forbid you from redistribution more copies If Im wrong about this please let me know, I read some articles claiming this is the case but I am not sure if they truly were correct.
  • SirMaster 9mo ago
    >practically there is little difference since they provide offline installers Well it makes it hard or impossible to sell your copy of the game to someone else after you are done with it like we used to be able to do with console game discs and cartridges? Seems like a pretty big and practical difference to me.
    • daedrdev 9mo ago
      Yes but if you set up a website to do this they could sue, which I think is reasonable as many if not most people would be happy to both sell and keep a copy
      • SirMaster 9mo ago
        But it was so much simpler when you had the disc. Whoever had the disc had access to the copy and it could be sold and resold as many times as people wanted. I don't think people are so against DRM, because a disc like that was essentially a form of DRM. They are against an online DRM scheme which could change in the future. I know there were sone disc DRM that could like revoke the disc license, but let's go back before that was a thing to like the Xbox/360 and PS1/2/3 era style.
        • daedrdev 9mo ago
          It was much harder to sell things online back then too
• georgeecollins 9mo ago
  OK, but the model that Valve pioneered is the model that supports 90% of all commercial PC games made today, a higher percentage if you cut out MMOs and free to play games, which you certainly don't own. I love GoG and I have worked closely with a lot of people there on projects they are great. This announcement seems like good news. No one has to sell games on Steam. No one has to use a model where they "rent licenses". They could sell you everything DRM free. They don't because too many people pirate games to make that a viable business.
  • deleted 9mo ago
    [deleted]
  • rantallion 9mo ago
    > They don't because too many people pirate games to make that a viable business. This is what we've been told since time eternal but it seems more likely that those pirating are those that wouldn't be inclined to pay at all.
    • deleted 9mo ago
      [deleted]
    • doctorpangloss 9mo ago
      people are commenting in this HN thread like piracy hasn't been thought about, deeply, by many thousands of people for ages in the games industry. i could link to numerous people writing very wise things about it - the CEO of a certain competitor to GOG and Steam comes to mind, he basically wrote the Luther thesis on games piracy - but then i'd be downvoted.
      • jonasdegendt 9mo ago
        I’m interested, please link!
      • nottorp 9mo ago
        If it's Epic, they went the predatory free to play route and are financed by gacha money from Tencent. If it's EA or Ubisoft, they make boring design-by-commitee "AAA"s - lately with IAPs thrown in - and I don't even look at what they release.
• SirMaster 9mo ago
  >GOG is the only major storefront where I feel like I actually own the product. How do we re-sell our GOG games to someone else? If I own it I should be able to sell it again, right? Like I used to sell old console game disks after I was done with them.
  • skrebbel 9mo ago
    Just give them the files and pinky promise to delete them yourself?
    • Fire-Dragon-DoL 9mo ago
      Gog license doesn't allow reselling at all
      • SirMaster 9mo ago
        Then you don't really own it IMO.
        • Fire-Dragon-DoL 9mo ago
          I agree. It allows you yo backup your games, which to be fair you can do with Steam too and just play offline forever.
    • ManlyBread 9mo ago
      It amazes me that people nowadays know so little about piracy that this is somehow touted as a solution.
      • squigz 9mo ago
        GP wasn't being serious.
        • ManlyBread 9mo ago
• transcriptase 9mo ago
  People said the same thing when Steam launched, yet my profile sits there with a badge saying 20+ years and I can’t recall a time I’ve encountered an issue that was the fault of Valve versus a developer or publisher. At this point the games I “own” on physical media like CDs have theoretically started to degrade before the threat of Valve revoking my ability to install or play has come to pass.
  • buzzerbetrayed 9mo ago
    Correct. And if steam ever retracts anything, I’ll pirate the game then with a clean conscience.
  • kaoD 9mo ago
    The problem is what will happen when Gabe Newell passes away. My GOG installers will never degrade though.
    • transcriptase 9mo ago
      I’ll be very surprised if during all the time he spends doing nothing and winning, he hasn’t planned ahead for his company not becoming the very thing he hates and sets it apart. I’d put a controlling interest in a trust with ironclad instructions to have Valve do the opposite of Ubisoft/EA. That would buy it another half-century at least.
  • bayindirh 9mo ago
    This is because of Gabe and Valve itself, and it's not a universal constant. I have quite a few licensed software where I have the license, but installing the software is impossible. This is why I still keep a copy of the software I bought, and religiously backup that trove. Because someday that S3 bucket or SendOwl link or company server will go down. Sometimes, a company will raise prices, so the publisher will have to kill the old links. C64Audio had to switch to BandCamp and invalidate SendOwl links because of that price hike. I'm still bitter about not being able to reset my Test Drive Unlimited install count online just because I have updated my computer and transferred the whole Windows installation to the new system back in the day. There are not many ways to battle the entropy of the universe.
• eatsyourtacos 9mo ago
  Literally the last thing on the internet you can complain about is Steam. PC gaming would be the biggest cluster fuck in the world- if not fairly dead / super niche. You would need to install 12 front-ends like Steam that would be hot trash and have a handful of games and be the most miserable shit ever. You wouldn't have sales, reasonable game prices, or family library sharing (this would be absurd to any other company). Steam is a prime example of when a monopoly ends up to be the best for the consumer.
  • phatfish 9mo ago
    Well, you don't "stop using Steam" unless you don't care about playing most games released in the last 10-15 years. But the premise is solid, given that GOG has no DRM. Steam did get DRM "right" though. My problem with Steam are the casino tactics Valve inject into their own games and the platform. That is an entire gaming industry problem however. At least Valve do some good things with the dirty money.
• Hobadee 9mo ago
  Steam games are still great as long as you approach it open-eyed as a long-term rental. You can get really good deals, and as a parent of 3 young boys, their family sharing is an amazing bonus that I didn't even consider when I started getting games ~20 years ago. I have definitely gotten my money's worth. (If you consider it akin to going to the movies or a theme park, rather than buying an object.) Of course I vastly prefer GOG and try to get all games there, but GOG still only has a tiny fraction of the games I want to play.
• utopiah 9mo ago
  As a (theoretical) archivist, this, 100% As an actual gamer... why? I mean of course I agree that if I buy a game I should play however I want (assuming it doesn't degrade the game for others, i.e. no online cheating in competitive settings but modding is fine, including online if other players agree to it) for whatever long the agreement priced was (e.g. I don't think it's OK to get a lower price for a 1-day trial then keep it forever but if I do pay full price, then I get to keep it)... and yet, when I play a game, I play it. I don't store it. Sure I might want to maybe play it again in 10 years but the actual likelihood of that is very VERY low. I say this owning few dedicated arcade hardware running MAME and similar emulators. TL;DR : I go get the point, my behavior though is not that, namely I play, complete (or not) then move on.
  • Shacklz 9mo ago
    As an avid gamer myself, I fully agree with your point. I guess in this thread there are a lot of people who, due to them being in tech, have a bit of a relationship with games but it's not really a big hobby. And as it happens, Steam has a few policies that trigger some intellectually motivated objections - nice in theory but practically irrelevant for gamers who play games on a regular basis. As a matter of fact, in case the nostalgia itch really does hit, Steam actually enables a relatively easy 're-release' of old games that many publishers started doing - often with no further addition except the promise that it'll run on modern hardware/OS hassle-free. I've re-bought games I've played in the 90s/2000s on Steam even though I already owned them and probably still have the CD lying around somewhere, but I just can't be arsed to go through the troubles of installing from them. Pay a few bucks, click a button and I'm up and running.
• ManlyBread 9mo ago
  GOG is no different, you're still renting licenses and GOG still has the right to revoke your license, effectively making your "offline installer" no different from a game downloaded from myabandonware or a similar website.
  • carra 9mo ago
    Pretty different, actually. You don't have to worry about possible malware, and you get to support the developers of games you like (aka "vote with your wallet"). Also even if you get your license revoked it's not such a big deal as in other stores, where in some cases they may even delete the game from your devices remotely, without warning. The offline installer is a guarantee for you as a consumer.
    • ManlyBread 9mo ago
      Malware is easy to avoid if you know where to download from and if you engage in the herculean task of uploading the .exe to something like virustotal.com in case of any doubts. Not like it matters much anyway seeing how there are examples of GOG games using cracks from the internet anyway. Supporting developers is a weak argument considering that GOG's claim to fame is that they're selling old games where the development studio no longer exists or has been bought out by a corporate entity like EA. Revoking my license isn't a big deal? I paid real money for the game. The offline installer is about as much of a guarantee of anything as a pirated ISO is.
  • wilg 9mo ago
    I genuinely don't understand what people think "own" means here. Downloading from Steam you "own" it in exactly the same way as if you install it from a CD: you have a license to the game. There's nothing to own in any case, unless you literally own the copyright to the game which of course you don't. Also Steam doesn't apply any DRM unless developers add it, so backing up your Steam library folder to an external drive should be fine for your personal preservation at a platform level.
    • bigfishrunning 9mo ago
• shevy-java 9mo ago
  My hardcore gaming days are over, but I feel that the gaming industry has in general been abusing the hell out of gamers in the last some years. That also includes the hardware industry, trying to sell overpriced stuff. Granted, it is the gamer's fault for submitting to that mafia, and I am not directly affected nowadays myself (save for RAM prices going up thanks to the AI mafia milking us all), but I would be hugely upset at the companies constantly trying to milk the customers. It is very shameful of them to want to do so.
  • rjzzleep 9mo ago
    As gamers nexus said, the hardware companies are now post consumer. They are building stuff with investments backstopped by taxpayer money, so if you choose to boycott now it will probably make things worse. People spent a lot of energy laughing at people that were warning that this would happent not too long ago.
    • musha68k 9mo ago
      For people who don't know GN: https://youtu.be/cUrJVdF2me0?si=tlxLIufz8zah8xG6 https://youtu.be/cUrJVdF2me0?si=tlxLIufz8zah8xG6
      • embedding-shape 9mo ago
        (Human) summary of this almost one hour long video essay? Seems like the typical "random tech influencer is trying to fuel the fire/drama of today" because of the clickbait title of "NVIDIA: WTF?", so unsure if it fits to be linked here in the first place.
        • throwaway6977 9mo ago
          GN is a well established, popular and independent consumer hardware reviewer that has only a few peers on par with them in the space. Hardly some "random tech influencer".
• eleveriven 9mo ago
  Offline installers are the real line in the sand
• nialv7 9mo ago
  I think the individual game developers can choose whether they sell you the game or just rent you a license, right? Steam doesn't enforce DRM, they do provide an API game developers can use to add DRM to their games. But the developers don't have to use it if they so choose.
• qq66 9mo ago
  The flip side of this is that the only games whose owners allow them to be fully sold in this way are those whose commercial value is >90% expired.