SpikedWallMan: So you think I'm being dishonest? What a strange way to reply to a personal statement... Please believe me that I
WILL stop buying from GOG if they just become just another DRM store. Why fragment my DRM'd library when I can just use Steam?
I think a lot of people claim this, very few follow through... but if you do, you do. That's your choice.
SpikedWallMan: One can hope... I don't have visibility into CDPR's business plan so I don't know what they are thinking. This is such a significant deviation from their previous plans that it raises questions about the future of DRM-free in GOG's store.
I mean has been pretty clear what the intention here is. They consider GOG.com one store within Galaxy and the GOG.com store is not changing.
SpikedWallMan: So what's the unique value proposition here? What if Steam was to offer a similar all-in-one launcher feature tomorrow? They could easily do so since all of the APIs are open enough for GOG to do it, and they have the industry connections to make any special integrations happen. How would GOG selling games from another store help GOG's interests then if their launcher is no longer anything special? Also, why hasn't Steam done launcher integrations like this already? Maybe because Steam doesn't want to promote competitors?
That could happen, but Steam is so big that they really have no reason too... not yet anyway. Now if Galaxy starts gaining real traction and is viewed as a threat then Valve might do that.
SpikedWallMan: I believe that I have addressed that it doesn't matter if it's Galaxy-only and/or can be disabled. The fact that Galaxy offers a game from *any* store
disincentivizes DRM-free releases directly on GOG because devs could argue that "it's already sold on Galaxy" if it's on any store promoted through Galaxy.
The chances of that are slim IMO.
SpikedWallMan: If the goal is only 10%-20%, there are far better ways to do that which I previously outlined. Also, I would question whether doing Epic's launcher development and tech support while taking a small financial cut would even make GOG break even at only 10%-20%. Also, I would be surprised if GOG was able to convince 10%-20% of Steam's users to completely leave Steam just by selling Epic's games or offering an integrated launcher.
Is there? GOG has been doing this for a long time and still only has maybe 10% and that is if the game releases on the same day as Steam, Epic, etc. Only with the changes and introduction of Galaxy have they seen real growth and better releases.
SpikedWallMan: So by extension, Steam has more money and could do a better job with an all-in-one launcher than GOG can do with Galaxy? I am still not seeing the unique value proposition here, and the point that I'm making is that GOG betting so heavily on Galaxy's integration features seems like a misguided decision. Also, if you assume that Galaxy's integrations are
not unique, then that just leaves the fact that GOG is now selling Epic's DRM'd games and taking over portions of their launcher development and tech support. This decision by GOG does not make sense to me because it appears to hurt GOG's business instead of help it.
Steam could for sure, but has no real reason too... if they do, it because they see Galaxy as a threat. There is no unique value proposition if you are only a GOG.com user. But if you use Epic Games there is value here. There is for sure a chance this will not work out the way GOG believes, I will give you that, but I think the potential reward is greater then the risk IMO.
Look I know tensions are high and people are angry with this announcement, so I'm going to cut you a break here, but if you keep up with insults like this then we will be having a very different discussion. I have not personally insulted you whatsoever.
So I will ask nicely, please cut it out. Thank you.
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Disclaimer: I do not work for GOG.com, nor am I paid by GOG.com. All views expressed in this post are my own, and do not represent the views of GOG.com or it's employees. My views are expressed as a fan, gamer, and fellow GOG user... that is all. Thank you.