I spend like 90% of my "forum" time on the Steam, good chap. Sorry, but Steam has this beat.

Well...

1) You can only link 1 account permanently to GoG-Connect
2) There is only a limited window when select games are available
3) Otherwise it's free.


Honestly i dislike steam, but have had to use it a few times recently, putting in games i got on Humble Bundle to get them free here when otherwise i wouldn't...

Honestly you already have access to the games on Steam, so having a DRM-free version doesn't change anything really...

It's marketing but hey, free GOG games in your library if you already own them on Steam. :)

Really? Ok, I'm sure I can find you a nice, free download that you can't possibly object to. I mean, it's free! And nothing could possibly have been tacked on that might cause you any sort of inconvenience such as hijacking your browser and slowing your PC to a crawl (just to make up a completely unlikely example) because that sort of thinking is just paranoia, right?

If you want to be sinister about it, a lot of it is about fostering dependency. GOG knows that a lot of people won't move away from Steam because they're too lazy to have their game collections spread out over multiple sites, so they give people a free game collection on GOG that the vast majority would otherwise not have bought anyway.

It's aimed at people who are mildly curious about DRM-free but aren't actively aware of its benefits.

The theory is that it encourages them to come back to GOG from time to time and view the catalogue to see if there's anything else that they might be interested in. Whether that theory is justified is another thing - unless you're aware of the future benefits of DRM-free, most people won't be willing to download the GOG version of a game they have on Steam already unless they learn about the problems of DRM on Steam the hard way.

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Here are possible catches, from the GOG Connect FAQ:

6. Can I disconnect or change my connected Steam account:
You can only connect one Steam library per GOG.com account. This process is permanent.

This means that the Steam account will remain connected and they can gather information based on your Steam purchasing data, by periodically checking what games you have in your Steam library.

15. If I no longer have the game in my Steam library, do I still keep it on GOG.com?
If a game is removed from your Steam account for any reason, such as through manual deletion or a refund – we reserve the right to remove the games from your GOG.com library.

This means that if, for some reason, you lose your Steam library or a part of it, you also are very likely to lose all the GOG Games you got by using the GOG Connect service. This could be disastrous in the long term if you redeem lots of games through this system and something happens to your Steam library.

Hmmm... just reading this part i can't help but think of in another thread where a customer is demanding a refund for No Man's Sky because it wasn't working... because he would re-purchase it 3 days later after it was patched....

Considering you have to have your games publicly visible to use GoG-Connect, I could see GoG querying steam the reason a game was removed from a customer's library, and if it was refunded, removing the 'free' game from GoG, as it would follow parity.