Posted January 17, 2018
Just to avoid misunderstandings: I too don't want Galaxy to become mandatory. It would be catastrophic for me if it did, since it doesn't even run on my pc. You can probably imagine how I would react if I suddenly couldn't access my library anymore...
Lifthrasil: Not really. GOG promised a lot of things in the past. Even with promotional videos.
-Only complete games (no DLC nonsense)
-Free extras
-No regional pricing
-No region locking
-completely optional Galaxy (it isn't for many multiplayer games) Wasn't trying to imply that you should trust everything they say; sorry if that wasn't clear. I'm well aware of the many 'principles' they abandoned. Which is why I don't see how 5k votes on the whishlist would be enough of a deterrent for them.
The core of the matter is: is Gog going to keep Galaxy optional? We got an official reply in this very thread, and the answer, once again, was "yes". Whether this wish gets restored or not is not going to change their policy.
Lifthrasil: So promises and statements don't mean much. Or in other words: GOGs promises only count as much as we as a userbase make them count. If the outrage is big enough when GOG tries to break a promise, GOG will row back. (example: forced Galaxy downloads). I just don't think we can do much about that. Sorry. They didn't back off from regional prices (or any of the other things you listed above) which caused a MUCH bigger ruckus than the ninja-bundling of Galaxy in the installers. Why? Because financially it made sense for them. It allowed them to grow, expand their catalog, and gain ground in the DD market. Gog is not a democracy and the management does what they think is best for the company. If they ever conclude that making Galaxy mandatory is the right way to go, that's exactly what they will do, and 5k, 10k or even 20k votes on the whishlist ain't going to do squat.
But then again, I don't see the danger of such a thing happening anytime soon. First and foremost because Galaxy is still not ready. It doesn't even work on Linux yet, so unless they plan to cut off a few thousand customers from their libraries - and I don't think they could withstand the backlash - it will necessarily remain optional until they can finally publish stable builds for all supported OS.
I bet it'll take them at least a few years to get to that point, but even if they get there, what exactly is the advantage of making the client mandatory? It'll effectively turn Gog into a poor man's Steam with... a much smaller game catalog and less features? Sorry, but for the time being I don't see any reason to doubt what Elcook said.
-Only complete games (no DLC nonsense)
-Free extras
-No regional pricing
-No region locking
-completely optional Galaxy (it isn't for many multiplayer games)
The core of the matter is: is Gog going to keep Galaxy optional? We got an official reply in this very thread, and the answer, once again, was "yes". Whether this wish gets restored or not is not going to change their policy.
But then again, I don't see the danger of such a thing happening anytime soon. First and foremost because Galaxy is still not ready. It doesn't even work on Linux yet, so unless they plan to cut off a few thousand customers from their libraries - and I don't think they could withstand the backlash - it will necessarily remain optional until they can finally publish stable builds for all supported OS.
I bet it'll take them at least a few years to get to that point, but even if they get there, what exactly is the advantage of making the client mandatory? It'll effectively turn Gog into a poor man's Steam with... a much smaller game catalog and less features? Sorry, but for the time being I don't see any reason to doubt what Elcook said.
