What do you think the benefits of GOG pushing DRM on customers? Since we all seem to know what GOG is doing.

So that's proofs of GOG pushing DRM?

Inflating the Galaxy user count by attempting to coerce people into using Galaxy. They've used many underhanded tactics to try to trick or force people to use Galaxy ever since Galaxy was a thing. Here are just a few examples they've tried:

* Renaming the standalone, offline installers to "offline backup installers", downplaying them as a secondary option
* Bundling the Galaxy installer within the offline installers and having it install by default (and you had to remember to go into the advanced options and uncheck the "install Galaxy" box *every time* because they didn't have it remember your choice like it does for all of the other settings)
* Putting a giant "Download Galaxy" button in the library page for each game, with the actual download links hidden away behind a menu
* Generic support messages telling people to use Galaxy as the top "solution"
* Offering pre-load for Cyberpunk 2077 exclusively via Galaxy & claiming it was impossible to do for the offline installers (which we know is complete and utter bullshit because they did it before with other games)
* Exclusively offering older versions "rollback" via Galaxy (combined with not rolling back offline installers when an update introduces critical bugs leaving the offline versions broken)

A larger userbase would make Galaxy more attractive to developers/publishers and help them in other ways (e.g. datamining/user tracking etc). By allowing DRM as well GOG would make it more enticing for the bigger, more pro-DRM publishers to bring their larger releases here (and at launch). Of course this would ultimately kill them, but they'd probably make very large profits out of it in the short term as their reputation burns.

The proof is GOG not only allowing DRM but implementing it within their own games.

https://www.gog.com/forum/general/colossal_cave_remake/post17

You're last reply is theories. We have no real proof this what GOG doing. You can say it's evidence, because of GOG recent actions

We don't know what really lies ahead for GOG. To me it seems like GOG doing a lot for DRM free with all the games released this year. Why would they pay money to get DRM free skyrim just to push DRM on us? It doesn't make since at all. But maybe I'm wrong.

I'm done and losing interest in this topic. Wanted to say thank you for taking your time and explaining your views to me. Appreciate it.

Happy holidays everyone.

We know what GOG is doing because it's in plain sight: DRM-restricted content in first-party GOG games, first in Cyberpunk 2077 and now The Witcher 3, forcing the use of the "optional" Galaxy client (or some kind of crack) if someone wants the full single player experience.

Selling games is still how they make their money, and Skyrim is a big seller. It's also an old game and I can't see how they could DRM it in a small enough way to muddy the waters over it like they have with CP2077/TW3 and avoid a major uproar. Plus it wouldn't be their choice to DRM any of it as it's not their game.

Didn't they also give the first Witcher away only to people using Galaxy at one point?

Yes. While shitty, it's OK. That's only an odd condition for purchase. Not install or use.

It's kinda ironic how CDPR mocked DRM in one of the game's quests and a few years later here they are implementing it themselves in what was once a DRM-Free game.

I also found this particular section on game's my rewards page which is troublesome: So from how I understand it, you have to phone home in order to access the content on a new save file. DRM-Free my arse.

And that's exactly why it is DRM. If you need to reconnect every single time you reinstall / restart the game then it's no real different to the "single use per play" Steam version of Deus Ex Mankind Divided's DLC (that were activated online separately from the game post-install). They are glorified $0 micro-transactions that ultimately function exactly like those on Steam / Google Play Store "Freemium" games.

Oh, well would you look at that. https://www.gog.com/forum/general/gog_survey_1

I didn't get the survey myself (probably because I haven't bought much here ever since the EGS-GOG integration deal and CP2077 DRM, although I used to spend a lot here yearly prior that as I generally don't buy games anywhere else & used to run giveaways here fairly often as well), but according to the OP there they are apparently asking these questions: Why would they even be asking such questions if they weren't reconsidering their DRM-free policy?

If that's really the case then they have actually taken it a couple of steps further from what they did with CP2077. It may have been changed since I last checked, but with CP2077 you didn't actually need to use the Galaxy client to unlock them and you only needed to do it once for the content to unlock for all subsequent playthroughs with that installation.

This is actually part of a response I was going to post to something you said recently that I decided against posting. Given what you've just said about that survey I thought I'd let you read it anyway and let you make your own mind up about it:

"What people are not taking into account is that CDPR and GOG are no longer the companies we used to love. They may have been started by people who had a genuine passion for gaming, but now they're large enough that they're beholden to shareholders. That means the focus has shifted from providing a quality product to simply making as much money as possible with the least amount of effort.

As for "Galaxy", the reason this is being pushed so hard is that for those at the top this is only a games organiser and launcher as it's secondary function. It is first and foremost an information gathering and marketing tool. This is why some basic functionality, such as the "Recently Played" section, is gated behind online information sharing. As for Trophies/Achievements, etc., the order people get them in, whether there are types they actively avoid, if they obsessively try and collect them all, these are all useful for personality profiling. This sort of data is worth a small fortune to the advertising industry, and while they say they never sell your data they do say they share it with "trusted partners" and say nothing about whether or not they share it for other considerations, such as premium advertising space. This is also why they've placed adverts on the main page of all games in the form of the "Similar to this" section. Anyone doubting this should just do a search to see how much such data is worth to information brokers. People may think some of this dlc is "free", but they're paying for it in other ways.

It doesn't matter any more if the staff at GOG genuinely care about keeping GOG DRM free as they're no longer in charge. Instead the people running the show almost certainly have the same long term goal as everyone else in the industry, which is to create a rental only subscription service where you only get to play your games as long as you keep paying. CDPR wanted to get their foot in the door with Cyberpunk 2077 online, but we all know how that turned out. That's why it's so important to keep pushing back against this sort of thing, because the moment they do get their foot in the door they just keep pushing forward."

I'm still waiting an answer from my support ticket.
Not a fan of drm, but this is even worst... they don't even care about their customers anymore.

I am still waiting for a decision on my refund request.

#1424710 acknowledged 16/12/2022

My ticket is dated December 15, 2022 19:32 and is still open without answer.