Most games on itch.io are DRM-free.
The Humble Bundle store gives you the ability to filter only DRM-free games.
Zoom Platform only sells DRM-free games.
I think Fireflower Games only sells DRM-free games, as does Game Jolt.

The specificity of GOG is that they are the only store selling DRMed content under a false DRM-free tag. I am not sure this is something to be proud of.

There are games with DRM on GOG and games without DRM on Steam. You only have to find them. ;-)

It's a very interesting announcement, that's certain.

With all those options why even shop on GOG. :) Also, someone already replied to him with same info.

Not instead of, in addition to. It's just that this is more important...

Some funny thing I noticed: I haven't seen any blues around since the Twitcher 3 downgrade dropped - coincidence?

"Most"... "filters"... come on man.

No other store is even close to doing what GOG does for DRM free gaming. You guys can scream to the heavens about promotional item B.S. until the cows come home but it will never change that, and you have no other options that are even close to being better. 15 years of endless arguments on this stupid forum about minutiae and the above sentence has been true the whole time, and will likely be true in another 15, god willing GOG is still around.

I buy my games from half a dozen stores. I see no value in so-called "brand loyalty", all I want is DRM-free games.

But GOG is the only store where I have to be extra careful when buying games because of their "it is not really DRM if you squint hard enough" policy. Thankfully we have forum threads to keep track of such tainted games, so we can avoid the developers known for sneaky behaviours. Like CD Projekt Red for example.

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You’re right, no other store I buy games from is trying to force-feed me some piece of malware by adding DRM-gated content into previously DRM-free games. But I would not call that doing something for DRM-free gaming.

The good old anti-DRM GOG died the day they announced Galaxy for the first time. Now they have no more value than other stores like Humble Bundle with their mix of DRM-free and DRM-ridden games.

Actually even before Galaxy they were already happy with DRM-gated multiplayer modes, that was a good hint of what would come in the later years.

Galaxy is a blessing for numerous reasons and does not inherently add DRM, but this is a tired circle of futility. You guys are never constructive, you never speak with nuance, it's 24/7 pointless anger and grievance that poisons the soul. I have to stop letting myself engage with it.

While I seldomly enjoy your contributions in DRM/Galaxy DRM threads, I appreciate you making this point. Like the user you were responding to, I also like to talk up the smaller stores. However, I have also been making the point for years that GOG is all there is when it comes to big DRM-free-facing stores. Granted, some people prefer smaller or more under the radar/niche games (myself I'm thrilled JAST USA/Kagura have their stuff DRM-free on their own respective sites). Nonetheless, it's still a fact worth pointing out that, for all the must-haves available on the smaller DRM-free stores, there is yet to be another that would release Skyrim DRM-free.

That said, I think this fact is all the more reason why GOG users should reject any instance of DRM no matter how (supposedly) trivial it is. If this is the only DRM-free big store, and it is moving away from DRM-free, then logically this means we are at risk of not having any big DRM-free store. So for people to clap back at the old users, call them grumps, say they're exaggerating, etc, I think is very misguided and detrimental for those of us who would like a big DRM-free store around in the future. There is very very little margin for error here and once anti-consumer practices take root they are hard to undo.

For those of us rooting for GOG to stay in business long-term, it would be best to side with the "old grouches" who know that without DRM-free, GOG has absolutely no selling point. "The mother of all clients" is not a selling point and "this is a DRM-free store, but these items in your game are locked behind a client, but it's only a one-time activation, and it's only like horse armor, and they say it's DRM-free, so it's not DRM" is even less of one. If modern audiences can't even handle double-clicking an installer, there is no way they can grok that sort of brand incoherence.

Yet that's so hard to do because you feel a need to stand up for what you see as relevant and offering value, and push back against the stances and events that, as you say, poison that.
Hmm, maybe that sort of motivation also applies to the other side?

It's hard to take you seriously. I have seen store's remove the DRM free version of the game in favor of steam keys. GOG has never done that to me, but plenty of other places have.

Yes, gog is the worse of them all. Because they give you free dlc that needs online connection.

This seems like an excellent response to what is a clear shifting of the goalposts - undermining the premise (DRM-free) upon which the game was sold and further undermining the credibility of this store. I haven't bought W3, otherwise I would do the same. I will not be buying Witcher 3 at any point in the future, unless CDPR reverses this sad decision.

Well said, rjbuffchix. It seems clear to me that GOG is sliding further into irrelevance, the more they erode their DRM-free values. Unfortunately, some people who seem to care about GOG don't seem to be able to see that. GOG is not going to find success in 'redefining' DRM or trying to 'convince' people that DRM really isn't - the only path to success would be for the store to genuinely stick to its core values and what differentiated it in the first place.

I don't use Galaxy so these so-called "rewards" don't exist in my mind. Release an offline installer, and then we'll talk.

Anyone recall years back when GOG announced that they were going to put a Galaxy client installer in every offline game installer? Anyone remember the large number of forum posts from users pushing back on this action? Anyone recall in light of such response that GOG did not follow through on this proposed course of action?

I suggest everyone unhappy with this Witcher 3 announcement to make your opinions on the subject known to GOG.

"If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_test

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_rose_by_any_other_name_would_smell_as_sweet

I came here to rant over the DRM stuff implemented in the new patch, after reading the W3 post update on the site ... when i got here only to find out alot of people have said more than enough of how i feel about this patch. Whoever works on this site is so out of touch with it's client base ... imagine making a fresh brick company that promises to use only natural materials in it's product, fast forwarding into the future after making alot of money the owner is now trying to change the formula with chemicals, the same owner then has the nerve to advertise it like it's a god send new and improved product, with a small fine print saying Chemical X Included ... i said it and i say it again whoever is managing this side of the business has absolutely no clue on what made your business grown over the years. No clue on why people chose gog over Steam, remember Gog was so small it barelly had any % of the market share.You are forgetting your origins and your only Ace Card you have over other distribution platforms, remember there are new trully DRM Free site out there emerging as we speak. If you don't have anything valuable other than being another exe in someone's PC you are going to lose your clients. Keep in mind Epic games offers free games on their platform every week and people still prefer to have games on Steam. Dwelve upon this and think other than DRM Free what does gog has to offer over other platforms. Change the patch to be offline and not Galaxy bound.