Posted February 05, 2020
I know, I know. 'Not again!' 'Gee, we haven't heard this before...' ad nauseaum
But maybe this is one of the first ones of 2020. Please stop reading here, if you are sick and tired of these posts ;) Also, Wall of Text warning!
TLDR - Ding dong, the king is dead, the king is dead! Long live the new king! Not gonna buy from Steam anymore. Gonna buy primarily from GOG. Because REASONS.
Background
I enjoyed Steam for the better part of 15 years. I had an account since Half-Life 2 released. In contrast, I have barely used GOG, or even Uplay, Origin, Epic, (apart from a few games) and...can't think of anything else atm. Steam was so dominant and convenient, I barely thought about its competitors, especially enough to purchase from them.
2020
That's all changed now in February 2020. My future purchases will be prioritised as follows:
1. GOG - buy first everything that is available for desired games
2. Everyone else except Steam (Origin, Uplay, Epic)
Now, many of you will not agree with point 2, I imagine. But as I abhor piracy and believe it destroys PC gaming, I really have no choice for some games than to buy from them. It's that simple.
Why GOG + others?
GOG will be my top priority, because of the following reasons:
1. Alternative to the behemoth of the industry - Steam
2. DRM-Free games result in less headaches for Linux gamers
3. Supporting the 'little guy''underdog''incumbent' competitor
4. Supporting a great (Polish) self-publishing studio
To expand on these, the 1st point regarding Steam being too dominant - I think this can be observed in many ways. Stagnant innovation and development, lack of new features periodically, relying on massive sales to sell games, being bad for the studios/devs/publishers because of their distribution cut, flood of non-curated low quality games, sitting on a pile of money whilst not contributing enough to gamers or the industry.
Don't get me wrong, Valve does contribute. Does it contribute enough to still warrant a massive distribution cut? Well, that's debatable. If you like a 'Facebook for geeks' like vidya gaming distribution platform, Steam is awesome for you. And I fully belong to the nerd/geek department, in case anyone had any doubts.
To be fair, Valve has also done quite a bit for Linux gamers - Proton is great, and really helps with running many games. And as Linux gamers constitute like what, 1% of Steam gamers (or maybe even overall), they didn't have to do that really. Of course they had ulterior motives, like not being beholden to Microsoft's mood and will, but still, the benefits for us gamers is there.
The second point is just simple. DRM usually causes some headaches when trying to WINE games through Uplay/Origin/Epic. THese days, there are some amazing tools/workarounds/scripting software, like Lutris to help that happen. With those, I'm playing Uplay, Origin and Epic games pretty much flawlessly actually, like Anno 1800, Borderlands 3, Phoenix Point, Dragon Age 3, etc. Multiplayer is usually a no-no, though. And at the end of the day, things can and will go wrong - removing the DRM part of the equation helps.
3rd Point regarding GOG as the underdog - this is actually more important than people believe. I mean, as an extreme example, if 100% of gamers only used Steam, it would be wholly detrimental to gamers/consumers - Steam would actually become the villain and start exhibiting monopolistic traits (much more than today).
Last 4th point - It is truly amazing what CDPR has accomplished, relying much on the success of its games obviously. And on top of starting out as a small indie studio, they are competing with a giant of the industry in digital distribution. Some would say, better even than Ubisoft or EA. Colour me impressed. By the way, the nationality has no bearing, but for one reason or another, I do have a connection to Poland personally, which is why I mentioned it. And no, it's not only because of vodka.
Conclusion and The End
If you got this far, please accept my apology for the length of my rambling soapboxing, possibly attention-seeking post. For some, maybe it was even entertaining, and/or provided a glimpse into how some users view GOG these days.
The END
Disclaimer: I should note, that I have been banned sometimes on STeam forums - almost always for derailing topics into politics and 'prone-to-huge-arguments' (I'm a news/politics whore). It may seem I'm disgruntled because of this and am doing all of this due to that, but actually, this couldn't be further from the truth. I had largely decided on this Steam 'boycott' before all that - the only thing keeping me over there, was some exclusive games I really wanted to buy and play. The latest ban was just the last straw. On the camel's back. Or hump. I forget the saying. No salt, I swear.
Another note and disclaimer - I have previously not believed DRM free games were good for the industry, and thus the gamer. I even wrote a piece many years ago, dedicated to that topic, even showed it here on the forums (like 8 years ago). I've been wrong before, and I was wrong about that too. Please forgive me (sob cry sob sniffle).
But maybe this is one of the first ones of 2020. Please stop reading here, if you are sick and tired of these posts ;) Also, Wall of Text warning!
TLDR - Ding dong, the king is dead, the king is dead! Long live the new king! Not gonna buy from Steam anymore. Gonna buy primarily from GOG. Because REASONS.
Background
I enjoyed Steam for the better part of 15 years. I had an account since Half-Life 2 released. In contrast, I have barely used GOG, or even Uplay, Origin, Epic, (apart from a few games) and...can't think of anything else atm. Steam was so dominant and convenient, I barely thought about its competitors, especially enough to purchase from them.
2020
That's all changed now in February 2020. My future purchases will be prioritised as follows:
1. GOG - buy first everything that is available for desired games
2. Everyone else except Steam (Origin, Uplay, Epic)
Now, many of you will not agree with point 2, I imagine. But as I abhor piracy and believe it destroys PC gaming, I really have no choice for some games than to buy from them. It's that simple.
Why GOG + others?
GOG will be my top priority, because of the following reasons:
1. Alternative to the behemoth of the industry - Steam
2. DRM-Free games result in less headaches for Linux gamers
3. Supporting the 'little guy''underdog''incumbent' competitor
4. Supporting a great (Polish) self-publishing studio
To expand on these, the 1st point regarding Steam being too dominant - I think this can be observed in many ways. Stagnant innovation and development, lack of new features periodically, relying on massive sales to sell games, being bad for the studios/devs/publishers because of their distribution cut, flood of non-curated low quality games, sitting on a pile of money whilst not contributing enough to gamers or the industry.
Don't get me wrong, Valve does contribute. Does it contribute enough to still warrant a massive distribution cut? Well, that's debatable. If you like a 'Facebook for geeks' like vidya gaming distribution platform, Steam is awesome for you. And I fully belong to the nerd/geek department, in case anyone had any doubts.
To be fair, Valve has also done quite a bit for Linux gamers - Proton is great, and really helps with running many games. And as Linux gamers constitute like what, 1% of Steam gamers (or maybe even overall), they didn't have to do that really. Of course they had ulterior motives, like not being beholden to Microsoft's mood and will, but still, the benefits for us gamers is there.
The second point is just simple. DRM usually causes some headaches when trying to WINE games through Uplay/Origin/Epic. THese days, there are some amazing tools/workarounds/scripting software, like Lutris to help that happen. With those, I'm playing Uplay, Origin and Epic games pretty much flawlessly actually, like Anno 1800, Borderlands 3, Phoenix Point, Dragon Age 3, etc. Multiplayer is usually a no-no, though. And at the end of the day, things can and will go wrong - removing the DRM part of the equation helps.
3rd Point regarding GOG as the underdog - this is actually more important than people believe. I mean, as an extreme example, if 100% of gamers only used Steam, it would be wholly detrimental to gamers/consumers - Steam would actually become the villain and start exhibiting monopolistic traits (much more than today).
Last 4th point - It is truly amazing what CDPR has accomplished, relying much on the success of its games obviously. And on top of starting out as a small indie studio, they are competing with a giant of the industry in digital distribution. Some would say, better even than Ubisoft or EA. Colour me impressed. By the way, the nationality has no bearing, but for one reason or another, I do have a connection to Poland personally, which is why I mentioned it. And no, it's not only because of vodka.
Conclusion and The End
If you got this far, please accept my apology for the length of my rambling soapboxing, possibly attention-seeking post. For some, maybe it was even entertaining, and/or provided a glimpse into how some users view GOG these days.
The END
Disclaimer: I should note, that I have been banned sometimes on STeam forums - almost always for derailing topics into politics and 'prone-to-huge-arguments' (I'm a news/politics whore). It may seem I'm disgruntled because of this and am doing all of this due to that, but actually, this couldn't be further from the truth. I had largely decided on this Steam 'boycott' before all that - the only thing keeping me over there, was some exclusive games I really wanted to buy and play. The latest ban was just the last straw. On the camel's back. Or hump. I forget the saying. No salt, I swear.
Another note and disclaimer - I have previously not believed DRM free games were good for the industry, and thus the gamer. I even wrote a piece many years ago, dedicated to that topic, even showed it here on the forums (like 8 years ago). I've been wrong before, and I was wrong about that too. Please forgive me (sob cry sob sniffle).