So I've seen the post on facebook regarding the new "update" on 10th of September 2024 that will remove the song Space Odity from the game and replace it with something else.

Will there be a way to download previous version of the game or do I need to download it now to have the original before they permanently change something that I purchased long time ago? How is something like this even legal and why doesn't gog do something about it? Gog is not a streaming service and I'm not "renting" this game because I own it. How do I know I'm not renting it? Because it gives me to "add to cart" or "buy now" before I go to checkout, it doesn't say "subscribe to" or "rent".

The only reasonable solution to this problem is to have the separate installer for people who bought the game before the license expired and a separate installer for the new version without the licensed content. That should be mandatory for any developer/publisher who puts their games online. Something like that existed before even on Steam if I'm not mistaken, but companies like rockstar started removing content with "updates" and the rest of developers just followed.

When will all those scummy companies realise that they're only encouraging piracy with behavior like this? "Pirates" will get the authentic experience without paying a cent and people who actually bought the game will be left with an inferior product.

This seriously needs to stop and if gog cares so much about customers, drm-free games and that you always own the content you bought then they should be the first to implement something like that into their store.

I was wondering the same thing. How can licensed content be removed from a game I purchased ten years ago? Will Galaxy allow selecting software versions or do I need to download a backup copy now?

Thirded, I'd like an official response to this. If GoG stands for preserving Good old Games then I'd like to know their stance on retroactively taking stuff out of them, long after point of sale.

I'm also interested in an official GOG response on the issue. This Alan Wake "update" underscores the main selling point of GOG and why I and many others, have invested money in the storefront.

I have every game I owned backed up, but I choose to use GOG Galaxy for achievements, cloud saves, and general organization. However, if GOG does not provide a way to choose the version of the game I purchased, I will have to seriously consider removing Galaxy from my PC and only use the offline installers.

I was lucky enough to catch the news on Alan Wake, but it makes me wonder how many other game changes I may have missed in the past or will miss in the future. Hopefully GOG will provide a statement on this important issue as customers have a right to know.

well I for one am installing the game, setting it to not auto-update, and downloading the installer as well just in case. Makes no sense that they should have the Remastered edition that should be the for sale edition that they constantly update and then just have the original delisted but preserved in our libraries.

+1

It is unacceptable to remove content from games we own. It's not our problem that the publisher only licensed music for a limited time. Show me where it said on the store page before my purchase that the credits music will be removed on a specific date. This is unethical and arguably illegal, and the whole point of GOG's DRM-free ethos is to protect customers from this kind of unwanted, hostile action that negatively impacts software we own.

But now I need to 1) have been lucky enough to have seen this news beforehand and 2) take it upon myself to download and safeguard installers before GOG alters them with the publisher's 'update'? I have to protect a game that I bought from GOG from GOG? Customers should be rioting.

You just download and backup your preferred game version - as you should ***always*** do. This installer will still most likely work 10, 20, 30 years from now on, depending on how well your backup strategy and computer knowledge is.

No other big storefront let's you do that. If the publisher decides to update the game version you can download, there is nothing you or GOG can legally do about it.

The license deal is between Remedy and David Bowie - GOG has nothing to do with that. They can't just host unlicensed content for you to download. Also you will surely be able to download something on the high seas to patch the missing song back in - just as with any other offline-game that received updates you don't want.

You could be mad at Remedy or David Bowie for this but a perpetual music license was most likely not possible or way to expensive for this song.

Just backup the current version already. Doubt it will ever coming back after the update.

I went and reinstalled Alan Wake before this update went live, and had to disable auto-update. Now, I will never update it as GoG should have or rather speak up about this problem whenever a game license expires due to music.

Has it been updated yet?

The version available right now is the "1.0 Hotfix". Is this the new version?

In Galaxy turn off Auto updates and you can see the versions and the dates. 1.0 Hotfix is 6 years ago.

Has anyone tried installing the game recently? Did they remove the song in the offline installer or is it still there?

I have installed the game and it has the same version of the installer that can be downloaded from GOG. Space Oddity is there, for now. If anyone wants the original experience of this game, buy and backup the installer because I don't know how soon Remedy will update the game here to be on par with other versions from other stores.

Update: 28/11/2024

I saw something: The update to change the song was made 3 months ago, but you can select which update you want to play on GOG Galaxy and I have, by default, the Hotfix update and not the latest update. This is something that can be viewed and selected in the game's Configuration within GOG Galaxy (a second screenshot is attached).