The problem is the fact that, if this kind of liability exists, then I would prefer to buy those games directly on GOG rather than getting them for free through GOG Connect, to ensure that they don't rely at all upon Steam, or my Steam account, or the developers themselves. What I'm talking about is that I think that we should be provided with this information, because otherwise the issue will arise sooner or later and it will be big. "We'll deal with it when it happens" is a dangerous statement. I can't be the only one around here that's been thinking about "making the jump" from Steam to GOG, also considering that GOG has become a wonderful alternative to the True Evil, but in doing that I want to preserve my library, be it by connecting it or buying again the games. One process is slower and costs more, I want to know if the other one is equally reliable. If it isn't, maybe it'd be useful to know for some people. Yes, making the jump doesn't necessarily involve closing your Steam account, but who likes having a part of his digital library tied to Steam if he has it on GOG?

My main question was really simple: "What happens to my GOG Connect games if I close/lock/deactivate my Steam account?". It's not that hard to find an answer, if GOG really wants to. I just think that it's important that we know that, because if you import 60-80-140 games through GoG Connect, and you lose them when you decide to deactivate your Steam account, or if Steam bans or lock your account for whatever reason, or if it gets stolen and griefed, etc, then you lose 60-80-140 games from your GoG library!

"Why would you deactivate your Steam account?" is not relevant here.

I want to start using GOG as my main platform, but if a relevant part of my library still depends on a Steam license and a Steam account, then I could just use Steam as my gaming platform. I don't come here only to get drm-free installers to back up. I want to support GOG's platform, service and business. I'm sick tired of Steam. I don't want to deal with it anymore, if I switch to GOG, and I'm planning to do it. Switching to GOG, in 2017, is not only about drm-free, it's about drm-free, optional gaming platform and great curation/customer service. If I only wanted drm-free games, I could go to other stores, download them, and being done with them.

Instead of insisting that GOG call the psychic hotline, why not just do it yourself? Your question can only be answered with hope of being correct about all the factors that matter in the future.

I believe the GOG Connect option is mostly about getting people to think about the games they have at Steam and decide whether they really need to keep all of them. That is, consider what is worthwhile buying as DRM-free, and realize the rest isn't worth worrying about having.

Sometimes the games on GOG Connect might be worthwhile and sometimes not. Sometimes the games not available on GOG Connect might be worthwhile and sometimes not. Sometimes the games not currently available on GOG might be worthwhile and sometimes not.

I think that's all it is. I doubt GOG Connect was ever meant to be a panacea. What ever could be? We're one electromagnetic pulse (EMP) away from it all not mattering anyway.

It can be if you are getting something for free. GOG are doing you a favor when they allow you to connect your GOG and Steam accounts and get a game in your GOG library if you have the game on Steam. GOG is under no obligation to do this. They can stop doing it any time they want. They have reserved the right to remove games from your GOG library if the game is removed from your Steam account. They are perfectly entitled to do that. Indeed GOG could just as easily say we reserve the right to remove a game from your GOG library that you acquired for free through GOG Connect if we catch the flu, get out of bed on the wrong side, get divorced from our spouse or go three days without shitting, or for any other reason that we feel like. And you have no right to say a single word against them.

I'm with many of the other people who have replied. There is a simple solution to your perceived problem. Simply download and save on a hard drive any game that you get on GOG through GOG Connect.

Given gOg is "reserving the right to remove the games from your GOG.com library" with regard to these free titles, the obvious solution - glaringly obvious at this point since I'm about the 8th person to mention it - is to not bother sweating this detail, assume the worst, and do what you should be doing anyway: make your own backup somewhere.

Now, the backup scheme need not be complicated. If you now consider your online library as the primary file source, then downloading the installers to your hard drive should suffice as your backup. If that isn't enough to give you the desired assurance, then pick up a $50-$100 USB drive and make a second copy there.

I know you want a definitive answer from gOg, but suppose they never give you one. What do you think you should do in that case?

Now do that.

I think of GOG Connect as a one way ticket (from Steam to GOG), where these games owned on steam are added to the GOG library. They stay here at your GOG library and as this promotion is not abused or gambled on, GOG will not remove them.

GOG Connect is - at the very core - one of their promotion schemes to get more users (and sales) on GOG.

Others answered your question but the main reason you'd want to keep a Steam account is in case you have games that will be added to GOG at a later date so you don't have to rebuy it if the devs are nice.

If you have say 50 Steam games though and redeemed most of them through GOG then you probably don't have to worry about that too much.

It's sad that your initial post has been downvoted. I think that you asked quite interesting question and I'm a bit surprised with GOG's answer and even more surprised with answers from community.

If it matters, you're not the only one who's interested in the answer and I don't think that your initial question was somehow inappropriate or demanding.
That's on point.

Ultimately, all GOG Connect does is to gift, free of charge, an additional copy of a game to the people who already own the game on Steam. This is much less a gift "from GOG" as it is a gift from the developers of the games in question. These developers have an interest in curbing the unavoidable twists, turns, backdoors and other paths of abuse and exploitation by this ridiculous service (sorry for the "ridiculous". I just don't see how this brings GOG customers, just freeloaders).

The terms under which Connect operates are purposefully nebulous. Whatever people demand, that's what they'll remain. We have, of course, as of yet not experienced a single case in which people lost Connect games on GOG because they have lost the same game on Steam.

We can assume with absolute certainty that GOG isn't scanning your linked Steam account every day to make sure it still exists and/or still shows the game you got on GOG.

So no need to worry, at all.

It's fine, it just seems that a lot of people do not agree with me, and that's not sad, maybe I'm wrong after all. The guys who have replied do not think of GOG as a platform, but only as a store. Once you can download your games, your GOG experience is over. But the thing is that GOG is becoming that platform, which you rely on for updates, cloud saves and account-based multiplayer. This is attracting a lot of new users, but it's also making people like me hope and wonder if they/I could leave Steam, once they/I recover most of their/my games here. The simplest solution could be to just keep using both, without closing or shutting down anything, but if, let's say, 2 years from now I'm really not using Steam anymore, should I keep it in order to keep my connected games? Usually, if I don't use an account for a lot of time, like 3 or 4 years, I tend to close it for security reasons, and I think I should know what happens in that case, because at that point, if I lose so many games from my library all at the same time, then I could regret using GOG Connect at all. But apparently, for a lot of people, the ability to make personal backups is enough to stop caring about your digital library, and I respect that. This was supposed to be a discussion, and it has been, even though I've probably used the wrong title for the thread, it makes me appear like a self-entitled kid who cries about free gifts. I just think that we deserve to know if those games can die with our Steam accounts. Digital backups don't stop me from caring about it, and it was a very simple question after all.

Anyway, cheers to everyone!

I really hope you're right!

Just to be clear - it's not sad that people disagree, it's perfectly fine. I find it sad that they express that by giving you minuses. I believe minus sign next to forum post was intended for something different...

Doesn't that mean the system can be abused?
If someone buys a game from the Connect list on Steam, redeems it on GOG and then refunds it from Steam he/she gets away with a free game.

You might be able to get away with that once or twice but you wouldn't be able to make a practice of it. Steam's refund policy refers to abuse of their refund system:

"Abuse

Refunds are designed to remove the risk from purchasing titles on Steam—not as a way to get free games. If it appears to us that you are abusing refunds, we may stop offering them to you. We do not consider it abuse to request a refund on a title that was purchased just before a sale and then immediately rebuying that title for the sale price."