Hello friends!

When I came to this forum to express my gratitude for the new Galaxy 2 launcher — which has finally set me free from a total mess my games library has always been in — I was startled to see how much dissatisfaction is being expressed by some community members about the new direction GOG is heading towards, especially about the inclusion of the EPIC Store in Galaxy.

In this post I want to share with you my views on this subject, which I hope will help at least one person to better understand what's happening.

No matter what one's personal preferences are about DRM or different stores — main titles are called "main titles" because they bring in main money. Since most people are purchasing main titles anyway, regardless of DRM, store, etc., GOG is constantly missing out on the biggest part of the cake. This is simply the current reality. And in this reality GOG must somehow survive in order to even be able to give you a choice. How will GOG even survive if people spend most of their money in other stores? And if GOG is gone, what choice will you have then? Think about that for a second ;-)

I don't believe that there are many GOG users who have never purchased a DRM-locked game. Since everyone here has supported DRM-stores at some point (and 99% of the community does this on a regular basis), that money could have been channeled through GOG just as well, to support their philosophy and cause.

I don't see GOG "selling out" or abandoning their cause or values. I see GOG doing exactly what they have been doing since day one — finding a flaw in the gaming industry, fixing it, and offering a better gaming experience.

Yes, a decade ago that "flaw" was the fact that many games were being released with a DRM-lock to a certain store. And GOG offered an alternative to that, by providing many titles DRM-free. The fact of the matter is that gaming industry has changed a lot in the past decade. Main titles simply don't get offered DRM-free any more (with Cyberpunk being an exception I can think of), and this is not GOG's fault in any way, shape or form.

Right now GOG sees a new big flaw in the gaming industry they want to fix: your game library and friends list being scattered across countless launchers, bad service provided by the main stores, and awful or non-existent return policies. GOG is adapting to the new reality, and once again finding a unique way to provide gamers with the best gaming experience of today. But today is not 2012 any more. The industry has gone forward a long way, and if one does not adapt to the new changes one will not survive. Like it or not, this is true for everything in life.

I, for once, absolutely love the fact that my game library is finally united in one beautiful, elegant, highly customizable launcher.
I love the fact that soon I will be able to pay next-to-nothing prices EPIC store offers, and still be able to return the game if I happen to dislike it.
I love the fact that I don't have to deal with a humiliating Exel-sheet to keep track of my games and launchers.

So if you like GOG and what it stands for, show them a little bit of support, or at least try to understand why certain decisions are made and why certain changes are introduced to the platform.
On the flipside, I agree with the community that GOG could have communicated this in a better way. And I'm sure they will, once the new project exits the beta phase.

Peace,
Love,
Cheers,
And happy gaming!

But why? If i don't like changes that took place after 2.0 launched, why should i praise GoG team for additional things i feel aren't good for the store or the community?

On that note please explain how the new addition like the Discovery tab helps in this endeavor? It is adding flaws the gaming industry, a launcher should be light weight not filled with unnecessary adds. And in case of the GOG I think most of the costumers goes to the website on a regular basis anyway.

As far as I see it, GOG have one really big corner stone and that is being DRM free and also the reason I keep coming back.

The launcher I use because it is easy to install games and make backups of savegames, but if it start to get filled with unnecessary features like the store, which you at least can hide, but still take up resources on your computer, and discovery tab, then it is a features I can live without and I will just have to avoid games that will require galaxy launcher to work or worst case, if GOG completely skips its one big corner stone, go back to piracy.

One thing that would really help GOG, also the gaming industry in general, is to get the developer to do proper releases on GOG. We see more and more games there either get delayed updates on GOG, which I can live with and some of them are for a good reason, or no updates at all, which just smells of cash graps, which is one of the big flaws of the industry.

Just my two cent on the matter :)