I have been wondering for a couple days now about this.

Let's say I already bought a game at retail, like, 10 years ago. Let's also say I've still got that retail copy today, but don't want to mess with trying to get said game to work in Windows 7 64-bit, etc, etc.

I wonder, if GOG would have some way of verifying that a user already has a game, and just giving them the ability to download it, and the extra goodies for free?

A couple game I personally have, but have given up trying to install are; Wing Commander 1-4, WC: Prophecy. Independence War, Homeworld.

Now, I am not asking for these to magically be mine. I have already bought I-War here, I have Wing Commander 1+2, and Descent 1+2 from a friend that led me here to GOG in the first place.

Is this possible, against a policy at GOG? On a case-by-case basis? Is there something missing from this equation I am not seeing? Any questions, feel free to ask them, I am genuinely curious.

No, it's not something GOG does. While it's likely possible, I think the actual logistics of something like this would be far too much of a nightmare for them to even consider it.

GOG can make your old retail games run on new systems. The service fee is either 5.99$ or 9.99$ depending on the game.

It is very simple, you put your retail game in the cart, show the retail version to your camera, go to check out, pay the service and voila, the game is on your GOG account ready to download. Why would or should they? If any, it would be the original publishers who would be responsible to make that happen. You have absolutely no deal with GOG if you bought the game somewhere else. You only have a connection with the original retailer and, to some degree, the original publisher (sometimes dev). They are the one who have to "keep you happy", if at all (and they don't have to).

Where did I say or imply that they would or should? Yes, indeed, it would be up to the publishers, which is part of the logistical nightmare I referenced.

Well, you didn't say "are you nuts" and it read to me like you think that logistics is the only reason GOG can't do it but otherwise could (and therefore should). My apologies.

While I totally understand what you are saying, and get the joke, I wasn't asking if I should spend more money on games I already have.

Though I am not 100% sure by the 'show the retail version to your camera' bit.

I am a member, have bought and downloaded several games from here. I know how it works here. I was just curious if I spent $50 on an actual disc, manual, etc, in a box, if I could get the game in a modern playable format instead of trying to make it play on modern systems.

A simple no would suffice. I was just curious if those that bought the games originally could just have the downloadable, made-to-work-with-new-systems versions.

Again, proving that you have bought the game previously would be the hard part, and I'm sure there's no automated solution for it across all developers and publishers, even for the games you already list in your catalog.

I also understand GOG is a business, here to make money.

But thanks for the answer nonetheless! Surprisingly quick about it, too! :)

Yeah, well, I have no life ...

This gets asked a lot.

It's really unlikely that a game rights owner would pay GOG to allow people to download their game if they already bought it elsewhere so GOG wouldn't really get anything from it, and if it was a case-by-case basis thing, they'd be swamped with previously owned game cases to ponder, and they're a relatively small company when it comes to staff size.

It would be nice if GOG was doing this whole selling untainted games just out of kindness, but they're actually lean, mean selling machines with a cold, vile stare born from years of exposure to the cold, harsh reality only ever seen in the never resting fluctuations of game store fashion. Once they set their eyes on you, all you can do is whimper and pray to whatever you can think of in your relentless horror as they use your very own hands to empty your wallet into the vacuum around the black hole left in their chest after the chaos of their first Christmas sale. By then your sanity will have left little keepsake to be remembered by, and you accept your new twisted affection to GOG with a smile, completely forgetting that you had already bought these games in a prior life so very long ago..

Hush, you should try to ease the newlings in like a guide, not scare them away like a tentacled nightmare.

Don't know really, ask this guy, or read the post he "quoted". I thought it fit well enough for a title, so I stole it. I'd guess it's something akin to "indecipherable rambling".

As previously noted *somebody* would have to pay the costs involved (bandwidth, setting up a database, support and so on).

A company that sold a game many years ago wouldn't be interested - if it still existed, given the mergers and takeovers that have happened over the years.

GOG is a small company. whose business is selling games. It's not a charity.

Easiest way - wait for a sale, and buy the games you're interested in then.

No mess, no fuss ☺

GOG has recently revised this policy and it will now apply only to The Witcher 2. Buy a retail copy get a free backup copy on GOG.

If you have the game already, it doesn't give you access to the free content on the website as most of the games sold here ARE between 10 to 25 years old. Most of that is before there was a network system in place to verify your game, where most games would self verify with whatever code you gave them, if they even required it. That basically means that your games as far as any websites concern are non-existant. That's not so much the case for newer games, but even steam it seems like only new titles from Valve give you a digital back-up.

You can buy the games here of course, and it means you always have a back-up that you can put to a burnable CD or something else, along with extras. But there's no way to verify any games that you own, and the freebies only come with the game unless you dig up a torrent or another site that has those freebies.

The best course of action for you would be to burn your CD image using an appropriate software, and to look on the internet (Usually fan sites, and forums for the game) to see if you could find a recent fan-made patch for the game.
Once you mount your cd image, you can put it back on the shelf, and enjoy the game :)

You could also search for no-cd cracks if you don't want to keep mounting an image.


You could also try to get in touch with one of GOG's programmers and seduce him so he could program a patch for you... good luck.

but... So in reality you DO NOT have this game in playable version at this moment. If you want to play it now then you have two options:
- "stop being lazy" and "mess with trying" yourself
or
- pay GOG to do it for you