Disappointing. I bought Bastion on Amazon and it gave me a DRM-free installer, so I really thought they were into that kind of thing.

I still don't understand why Bastion isn't on Gog if its DRM free elsewhere?

Well now hang on.

The game includes various features which make use of Steam, right?

But they then go on to say that you don't need Steam running in order to play, which would render all of those features inactive anyway. So if they've built DRM-free functionality into the game, why the Steam requirement (to install)?
Really really easy... by their own admission. If all the Steam features are optional in the Steam version then all they need to do is put that exact version in an installer. If they were willing to release the game here they wouldn't even need to do that. Just the files over to GOG.

Nothing against new games and GOG selling them, absolutely; yet I feel inclined to join the above posters.

It would be similar to the GOG version of Spelunky.

Publisher: Warner Bros.
There's your reason.

I think what they're saying here is that technically it would be no problem to offer a separate DRM-free version, they just don't want to do that because they feel their game would be incomplete without all the Steam features and either they don't want to encourage people to play it offline without those features or they feel it's wrong to charge for an 'incomplete' version. ("And why would anyone not want to buy the Steam version? Steam is awesome!" etc.)

Not that I'd agree with it, but that's how I read their statement.

I thought CEG is the reason Steam is considered DRM. The client itself is only a distribution channel, similar to how when people download installer files through HTTP at GOG. Granted, you get an installer and not "installed" files but if the game works with the latter that's not the important issue. The issue with Steam falls back to CEG, they encrypt the .EXE-files. Without that you can play the game without the client (like with Desura).

Actually the widget is misleading ; i bought Bastion some time ago via the widget and it came with a stand-alone installer & a steam key.

For Transistor, they probably focus on the Steam version + PS4 version atm , and maybe it will be avaible like Bastion was, but i have a doubt since the widget offer only a Steam key :(

Their speech about cloud + steam achievments & such is just bullshit, how they did for Bastion ? :p

It seems to be rather vague. I think a lot of GOG's "old-timey" members here believe only CEG is DRM, whereas, perhaps, some of the newer members who only know of "Steam = DRM!" think the client in and of itself is DRM.

Part of the problem is the lack of communication: you don't hear Steam tell people many games are actually DRM-free and can be played directly from the .EXE, possibly because they don't want to upset publishers by letting people know they can put these files up for pirates (or something like that). Likewise, I don't think GOG has really ever said, "Well, technically Steam has DRM-free games," because they know that could hurt their brand.

I won't buy on Steam anymore because I'm interested in helping the competition who can give Steam a run for its money, ie GOG (although that enthusiasm comes and goes admittedly); for example, the Humongous games - I won't buy them until installer files are released from some service.

I would say that CEG is "activate to play" DRM, where the client install mechanism is "activate to install" DRM. If you need to be logged into a client to install then your licence is being authenticated at the time of install and I would call that DRM. It's DRM that can sometimes be bypassed by zipping up the files but it's DRM nonetheless.

There's a difference between being invited into a house and sneaking in.

That's a misleading statement. MOST games on Steam (compared to their library size) cannot be run without the client software.

The DRM-free games are still many, even if they're a minority compared to the DRM'd ones.

Ah, wait "misleading", not "false" or "wrong".