The entire purpose/policy behind GOG Connect was "You own the games, so why buy them more than once?" I firmly agree with that statement. I should not be forced to rebuy a game if it was only released on one platform at first, but then releases on a platform I prefer down the road.

I have no issue with supporting GOG and most studios but I do not believe that we should be forced to buy them twice to play them on our preferred platform.

Why should developers give you a free copy on another platform? Perhaps all these physical games I have developers should give me a free version here, and those cartridges, they should be made available. It’s never going to happen, if they do make them available later, then it’s as a “remake/master” for a lot more money. Just take baldurs gate, to get that you need to buy the “enhanced” version. Gaming is about making money, not about be nice and user friendly.

I agree that it's about making money, but there's also a balance between profit and integrity. A person should not have to buy a game twice just because the developer refused to launch their game on all of the major platforms.

GOG Connect was a promotional thing, plus it was also a chance for the publisher/developer to show their level of integrity, and clearly there isn't much out there in the gaming industry.

You can mount a fair argument if a different format is involved, and there are costs related to that, but if a game exists at Steam and at GOG, and the only difference is DRM, and sometimes not even that, then why should a gamer pay twice for what is essentially identical. Each store is only a delivery mechanism.

Steam and the publisher/developer have already got their money. Steam doesn't lose out if you also get the game at GOG. The only one that you could argue misses out, is the publisher/developer, who are missing out on an unethical double dip.

So sadly, GOG Connect is no longer available ... at the moment anyway. And the reason purely and simply, GOG aside, is greed.

And I say that as someone who has re-bought many games I have on disc here again at GOG.

Some of you may think it fair to buy a game again here at GOG, just to get a DRM-Free version, and I guess if you paid bugger all for it at Steam, that can be seen as somewhat okay, maybe even fair. But other than that, you are being taken for a ride, some of you very willingly by the sound of it.

Is it any wonder that the gaming industry gets away with so much, when the collective gamer mentality out there lets them get away with it.

Of course, another side of the coin, is games that are released here at GOG in a lesser or inferior form or version, that also eventually suck many gamers into buying again at Steam out of frustration. Calculated greed or what.

As they say, what comes around goes around. Give them an inch and they take you a mile.

P.S. I'm not really talking about GOG's role in all this, which is obviously facilitator.

Then it would be nice to state that right on the GoG Connect page:
https://www.gog.com/connect

Its still linked in the footer, no wonder there is still the occasional question about Connect.

Anyway, this small tidbit fits well into my impression of GoG at the moment.

By the way, nothing says that GOG Connect has to be totally free.

Most of us I am sure, would be happy to pay GOG a facilitator fee ... perhaps $1 per game.
And likewise for any work done to make a game DRM-Free ... perhaps another $1 per game to whoever did the work.

A dollar or two to also own the game here that you bought at Steam, isn't much of an imposition, and many like me would be happy to pay it.

It's probably not coming back, but gog gives out free games from time to time, so look forward to that!

But not as we know it, not as we know it, Jim.

"...star trekkin, across the universe!"

Yep, it’s not actually as daft as some of the original series episodes , Tribbles anyone!

They weren't free games.
Unless you were abusing the system, you had already paid for those games. Not on GOG, but somewhere else.

I actually got quite a few games through the route: Indie Royale -> Steam -> GOG.

Obviously the whole thing was based on the assumption that a number of "Connectors" would start buying games on GOG. Because the GOG Connect has been, eh, disconnected now, we can assume that it didn't work out as planned from GOG's perspective.

I think you can speculate that GOG still see some point to GOG Connect or they would have nuked it completely.

I'm not privy to how it worked, but I imagine the developer and publisher had to be onboard, and I am guessing that is likely where the issues lie, and why it has been so underused.

GOG have created a great mechanism for developers and publishers to take advantage of, to gain some browning points and display their sense of fairness to their fans, but obviously money speaks too loudly and they deem double dipping is good for business, and we mostly as a gamer collective ensure that belief.