How would the act of issuing free Steam keys to GOG purchasers result in Valve getting more money? You just finished arguing that it would be an additional financial burden on Valve because of the bandwidth cost.

As I said, they already are doing this. They issue as many free Steam keys as the developers ask for, because doing so builds community goodwill, deflects criticism, etc.

And how are developers going to issue those keys in a reasonable way? They most likely would do it via GOG, because that is what people would eventually expect. To go to their downloads page and click their steam key button just like everywhere else. How long do you think that could go on before those unique benefits of buying from GOG start drying up when they start acting like everyone else? May there is no slippery slope here, but there very well could be.

Saying that there is no downside for GOG flirting with Steam is extremely optimistic. GOG's customer base is loaded with people that shop here based on a very unique value system within the industry. There are most definitely lines GOG could cross that would would cause many in their user base to bail the boat, and lots of people here are passionately anti-steam. While there are some short-term pain, long term gain arguments to be made as to if it is a positive move, but I think it would be very a rocky thing for them to do so, and in no way all sunshine and smiles.

Or, to put it short and coffee-related
"Without chemicals, he points" (c)

Trolling?

They could do it just as the Unepic devs have - issue a key that is redeemed on their website. Or yes, they could just put the Steam key directly on our account page. I still don't understand why you see this as taking away value from GOG. You're adding value, not removing it. Like I said, for games that are sold on both Steam and GOG, I would always buy the GOG version if the devs made a habit of issuing Steam keys. Likewise, if Steam were to suddenly issue DRM-free games to all Steam game purchases (which they will never do), I would probably stop buying GOG games altogether.

The alternative is that I have to buy the exact same game twice, which is really ridiculous, especially if you're someone who buys a lot of games. Do you think that is reasonable? I have been with GOG since the beginning and have over 200 games in my library, but I have bought far fewer games from them in recent months for this exact reason. I'm tired of having to pay double just so I can get the few features Steam offers that GOG does not.

GOG would not have any part in this matter. They do not have the capability, either legally or technically, to prevent devs from issuing Steam keys. If need be, the devs could always verify our GOG purchase through an email receipt, which would take GOG out of the picture entirely.

Do you really believe there are a significant number of people here that would leave GOG if the developers who sold their games here started issuing Steam keys, especially compared to the number of people who would buy more GOG games, like me? Are you going to boycott the Unepic dev because they are giving out Steam keys to those who purchased the game on GOG?

Not you - OP

GOG goes on a '#noDRM' offensive and this guy turns up all 'GOG sucks because they don't give no Steam keys' - seem like a, OK maybe not blatent but at least highly suspected troll to me...

I'm a troll for asking a question? GOG doesn't have any part of this - the developers are the ones who make the decision.

You're being obtuse. Valve wouldn't be giving those keys away, and is still going to expect to be paid for them by somebody. Sure the developer could, in which case that money has to come from somewhere.

I argued against your notion that the extra keys were somehow free. They're not free in any reasonable definition of the word, somebody pays for them.

No, they're not already doing this. Those keys are paid for by way of the licensing agreements negotiated between Valve, the 3rd party store and the various developers. If you think that they're just giving out free keys, then you're sorely mistaken, they just hide the cost of providing the extra keys in the purchase price.

In other words, they can do it, because they're including that in the licensing agreement, and paying Valve for the privilege.

He should change his username to TheStraightforwardJ.

I dunno, he might have a very real brain injury that leads him to think that the keys are free and that GOG should be like the 80% of stores that have deals with Valve.

Actually, to the best of my knowledge, they don't.

Valve is the one who pays for the keys, by not charging anyone else. They've been doing this for years because it's a very smart business decision. It gains them new customers and those who are already customers get further locked into the system.

They do, it's going to be negotiated into the contract they're operating under. It is true that Valve does host some things for free, but I highly doubt that they're letting 3rd parties make money by leeching their bandwidth.

See my edit.

Also, I can't remember who, when or where but I have heard multiple devs say that they get as many steam keys for their game as they want, for free. They then take these and make a licencing deal with GamersGate or wherever who then sells the keys. There is no direct deal between Steam and GamersGate.