I don't think it has anything to do with the multiplayer side of things - and my original hope that we would see it publically on GOG this week has been shattered into oblivion.

From the Larian forums If_User linked this nugget on the kickstarter page.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/larianstudios/divinity-original-sin/comments?cursor=6958986#comment-6958985

Seems to confirm that GOG for Kickstarter backers is pretty much to shut them up until they're happy with Galaxy and it's patch service.

Edit : New comments show further discussion about it and their plans - a lot of what they follow up with is probably stuff that should have been made in more public updates.

Yeah you are right. This really explains much. So its all about the autopatching thing and their decision to go for a client release.

So Galaxy mandatory to autopatching. DRM, no sale to me at all.

Well that is bad and it would speak for Galaxy being mandatory for D:OS.

This is.... BAD... and as i figured Larian just stumbled alot of steps down the like ladder.
He's making it sound like we should be thankful that they even released it on GoG for backers.

And yeah the hard on for steam is really coming through.

Pretty much what I thought too, but why exactly is it harder for developers to do manual installer patch updates on GOG in a timely fashion compared to Steam's auto-update client system?

Another example of lack of preparation for the GOG release - it has no manual, not even in the extras.

However you can get a rather nice 50-page PDF courtesy of Steam right here.

I think they probably have to deliver patches to gog who puts them online manually. On Steam they can probably do that by themselves faster over some developer steam client without any needed for including steam personnel.

This is Larians post on the Kickstarter page in the last update about gog:
We’ve been secretly working on supporting GOG Galaxy, the new online multiplayer platform from GOG.com and are happy to announce that full GOG Galaxy integration will be available for Divinity: Original Sin.

GOG is still working on launching Galaxy, so before that happens, our Kickstarter backers who have selected GOG.com as the digital distribution platform will be able to use Direct IP or LAN options to play in multiplayer. Once GOG Galaxy launches (by the end of August, the folks at GOG tell us), they will be able to take advantage of all the features this DRM-free online gaming platform offers.
I think gogs optional promise won't work for all the games and they probably promised to much again as they like to do.

Exactly, this is why i'm wondering why Larian is so dead set on waiting for Galaxy.

This. So much for competing with Steam for sales. It makes so little sense I'm wondering if there's a lot more to it than wanting to roll the game out with Galaxy. And GoG continues to say nothing, I mean what the hell?? No more KS or pre-ordering for me on this site. I can't wait to see how bad they botch the release of Witcher 3.

Not really - and Larian have provided updates for Divine Divinity as an example. However, if you can force updates on users, it reduces the number of support calls from people running old versions, with errors that have since been fixed.

Yeah - *puts on tinfoil hat* - it almost looks like the key shifting in the 11th hour was done to gently nudge / encourage everyone over to Steam.

Although if that was the case - I do believe they did that because they honestly believe that they can provide the best experience for customers from there at the moment and still see them as big supporters of GOG....just not for their needs right at this minute.

Well if you read the post of Larian poster earlier, it seems to be fully on them not wanting to deal with manual patches.

And unless I misunderstood, this translates to "We can't be bothered to release frequent patches for multiple languages on GOG since Steam is much more convenient."

No doubt it's easier to patch on Steam I'll give them that, but then another question comes up: how are those KS backers going to update if they chose the GOG version?

Larian said they'll be focusing on Steam and GOG.com and now that the game is released, they're inclining more towards a Steam focus only.

From that link - Larian:

"I think a lot of people underestimate that dealing with all the digital distribution platforms these days is big nightmare, especially when you patch often & are a small team, which is why we're limiting it to GOG & Steam on day 1 and are even excluding our own Larian Vault digital distribution."

GOG & Steam not Steam only.

This is the most awesome thing I've read in days.

+1