Hey, i just wanted to ask a question and hope for an honest answer. I read about the financial troubles GOG is suffering at the moment. So my question would be, what if GOG folds? Don´t get me wrong, i really hope you guys push through, but lets be honest, GOG wouldnt be the first beloved service to go under. So what would happen to the games we own? I have quite the extensive library of games aquired through GOG over the years. Would I have to download all of them all to be able to keep them? And would we get notice on time, so we can do that?

There have been multiple threads about this, the problem is many people are exaggerating worse case scenarios so it is unclear about what is exactly happening so you are better to go to business websites that have more factual evidence rather than ask here.

I think they'd take their games back from us.

Ah no wait, that's he other one.

Obviously. You don't have the game in your possession until you have downloaded it to your PC.

It is like if you buy a retail game in a store but don't bring it home but keep the game in the store, and then the store is folding... naturally you have to go get the game from the store before they close their doors for good. Possibly, depending on circumstances. Both Desura and DotEmu gave time to download games, but then if martians invade, then it may be too late to download anything.

Anyway, GOG is not going anywhere anytime soon. Yes they are facing more competition and pressure from other stores like the new Epic Store, and they need to try to stay with the competition. I keep buying from GOG as long as they are around because they offer the games that suits me fine (DRM-free installers I can download easily).

Hey, no one said it is going to be easy! If it was easy, heck, I would have started a digital game store too!

1. Are they in financial trouble and facing immediate closure? No. They just hired some more people. Also, you can bet the father CDPR to smack GOG if GOG failed miserably.

2. Was this hyped up, exaggerated fearmongering? Yes. Always investigate before exploding you own head because you instantly think the world is about to end - you might be wrong...

3. If GOG went under, what would happen to the games we own? They would most likely disappear. Se #5.

4. And would we get notice on time, so we can do that? Se #5.

5. Would I have to download all of them all to be able to keep them? Obvious answer is yes, always. Tip: use a python script to download them all, called https://github.com/Kalanyr/gogrepoc

You can find the thread here: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/gogrepopy_python_script_for_regularly_backing_up_your_purchased_gog_collection_for_full_offline_e/page1

It is your own responsibility to back up the games you buy on GOG.

I was tempted to make a similar observation to the myriad other complaints.

Like: I understand the need to collect stuff. Obsessive hoarding can manifest in many ways, and I have collected games (in my youth) that I never played. (I did make notes and kept a snazzy catalogue raisonné, though.)

But these are (mostly, aside from gifts) purchases. If it doesn't occur to the purchaser to download the game from the store, even if they don't want to play it, then I can't see how they have any reason to complain should the digital ghost of a game disappear one day. (Just take a screen shot, or a photograph of the catalog, or perhaps a freehand sketch or just write its name down on a piece of paper with a pencil. If it's not to be played, why does it matter?)

For example, I only just downloaded The Witcher. Since I cannot play it, and I received it for free, I had no incentive to keep it. (With the sequel it was over 30GB, and took my poor ADSL modem all night to transceive!) But, if I had lost the game before this time, I certainly wouldn't care to complain about it. >_<

Nah. If news are fake, they never suffice to smear somebody or god forbid, drag him down. The man at the top for example, is being bashed 24/7 by press, ever since election day. Still there and doing fine? Exactly. Fake news, never bring results. Exactly like rigged polls, or something.

Never fear fake news. Unless they aren't fake. That and said threads already brought good results! A number of people are spending now, outside sales and even host giveaways; together with their proclamations of love and support towards GOG!

^ That's probably the best analogy I've ever heard for people who buy DRM-Free games but then don't keep any local copies :-)

First question: yes, but you'd have to do more too. If your downloaded copies are your only copies, and GOG is down, then they are not even a backup. They have now become your primary source (this is bad to have a primary source only and no backup).

The only way to definitely "keep them" is to have multiple backups of them, with some stored at different locations or in the Cloud (i.e., in case your home catches on fire or something).

In other words, don't think that downloading one copy of your games means that they are safe. That would not be true. Any hardware has the potential to fail at any time. Or it can be stolen too. So having only one copy is the opposite of safe.

As for would you get notice on time: nobody knows. GOG says they would provide that, but that's a non-binding promise and therefore it amounts to nothing more than meaningless fluff words. So best to presume, no, you wouldn't get enough notice, if any. No, I don't think it was. Is it not a fact that GOG has been consistently losing money over the past few quarters? Unless that is untrue, then planning for GOG's demise is not fear-mongering; it's just being wise and protecting one's investments.

Of course it's exaggerated fear-mongering.

They lost a small amount each of the last 3 quarters, but far less than they made the 3 quarters preceding that. They are still up over 11,000,000 PLN for 2017 + the first 3 quarters of 2018. That is not a sign of a business that is in imminent danger of closing.

Besides, if they were, they wouldn't have hired a couple dozen people and have 20 openings posted. Instead they would be in a hiring freeze.

As to "losing your games", even Desura who looked DOA for months made a final announcement warning people in time to download. So did Shinyloot. So did every other storefront I can think of that went under. This idea that GoG could somehow just close its doors immediately is just plain dumb. Especially when GoG is just one part of CD Projekt and whose sister division is highly profitable.

Absolutely no way GoG is closing suddenly while the rest of the company is still profitably in business...

Some of you people are quite paranoid...

I've posted this before, but comeback March 21st after CD Project 2018 financial statement published.

https://www.cdprojekt.com/en/investors/regulatory-announcements/current-report-no-1-2019/

Exaggeration by journo's looking for quick clicks.

Dude asked a question and he was downvoted. Then people wonder why you don't see many new users come here and interact. Come on now.

GOG is very unlikely to close right now. However if they do, they've said they'll try to give us plenty of notice (no guarantees but I do think they'll try a few months in advance).

But yes, if/when GOG does down, you'll lose your library. Same with any other digital distributor - iTunes, Steam, Amazon, whoever. That's just how it is. So if you can, back up your games, at least the most important ones to you. The python script might help you -

https://www.gog.com/forum/general/gogrepopy_python_script_for_regularly_backing_up_your_purchased_gog_collection_for_full_offline_e