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General discussionIntroducing: GOG Galaxy, the DRM-Free online gaming platform(35 posts)(35 posts)
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Posted June 06, 2014
Freedom of choice. Optional client. Cross-play. Coming soon to all gamers!

Earlier today (or was it yesterday for you?), during the [url=http://www.gog.com/news/cd_projekt_red_gogcom_summer_conference]CD Projekt RED and GOG.com’s Summer Conference we dropped the news about our next big step forward! GOG.com has always been home to more and more of the the best games in history (for Windows and Mac), both classic and new. Differing in shapes, flavors, and sizes they had one thing in common: they were mostly single-player, and our focus was mainly on the experience of a singular gamer. If that's your thing, nothing really will change. You can always enjoy your favorite games 100% DRM-free on GOG.com, with no need to activate your game online or remain connected to play your single-player title. Just like GOG.com has always been about.. But what if you want to play with your friends?

Today we are excited to announce GOG Galaxy, a truly gamer-friendly, 100% DRM-free online gaming platform that will finally provide the GOG.com community with the easy option to play together online. GOG Galaxy will allow you to share your achievements, stay in touch with your pals and get the updates for your games automatically. We've developed this technology to improve your GOG.com experience. We think GOG Galaxy really deserves your attention and we hope many of you will give it a try! But, here's the great thing: it is totally optional, so it's all up to you! If you do not want to play online, or use our optional client to access these features, then no worries, you will always be able to play the single-player mode 100% DRM-free, and download manually the latest updated version of your favorite title from our website. Now, for one more feature we call cross-play. We always believed in an open world for gamers, with no obligation to be tied to a specific platform or client; and this is why GOG Galaxy will allow gamers to play with their buddies who use Steam, without any need to use any 3rd party client or account, nothing, nada. We’re taking care of connecting GOG.com and Steam players, so just sit back, relax and give it a try.

See the outtake from the CD Projekt RED & GOG.com Summer Conference

Talking of which, we are proud to announce the soon-to-come launch of the beta phase for The Witcher Adventure Game, a faithful adaptation of the board game of the same title. It allows up to 4 players to play together, whether they use Steam or GOG.com. Cross-play at its finest! If you wanna get the chance to try it out, please visit and sign up to get in the queue for your beta access key. You can also simply take advantage of our amazing [url=http://www.gog.com/tw3]pre-order offer for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which includes 2 beta access keys for he Witcher Aventure Game, delivered to you as soon as we start handing them out to public.

We believe GOG Galaxy has the power to provide the best of both worlds. Playing the single player mode of your favorite game, 100% DRM-free, while still having the OPTION to use our soon-to-come client for an enhanced experience (auto-patching, achievements, and much more) or play online with other GOG.com (and Steam) players if you so wish.

There will be more GOG Galaxy titles coming up this year, so stay tuned for more news and get the word around!
Post edited June 06, 2014 by G-Doc
Posted June 06, 2014
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Erich_Zann: So I can safely ignore this, and nothing will change for me as far as using GOG goes, right ?
That would be rad.
Yes, you will be able to use GOG.com just as you use it now.
Posted June 06, 2014
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Smannesman: Not what I want from GOG, so -1 from me.
What will it change for you? If you don't want it, you're not forced to use it. It's still GOG DRM-free.
Posted June 06, 2014
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Fever_Discordia: Does that mean that GOG will still offer and maintain a lightweight 'GOG Downloader' for people who still want to be able to pause and resume multiple-GB downloads but don't want the full GOG Galaxy experience?
(I wouldn't be one of them BTW - I'll be GOG Galaxy all the way- sounds kewl!)
We'd rather not want to support both client apps.
Posted June 06, 2014
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ChrisSD: But will you support an API that the community could use to make their own downloaded, if they wanted to?
Honestly I cannot say at this point, too early to tell.
Posted June 06, 2014
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Kolto66: First: great addition! even if many people won't use your new client, it is a good option to offer.

two things:

1. Does connecting with Steam (a competitor) mean you have to make a deal with them? If so, then please try hard not to get eaten by Steam/Valve!

2. Achievements: Please please please please please say that you can get achievements OFFLINE also, with sharing them later when going online. This would be "freedom of choice".

a third thing:

3. Am i going to be able to play old games via galaxy, too? Say for example Age of Wonders Shadow Magic with other gog users?
1. No deal is being made, instead we're giving you the chance to play with others like it used to be before digital distribution :) Remember when you popped in a multiplayer game like Quake and then just surfed the servers without a third party app? Galaxy is kind of like that :)

2. Not sure about those myself just yet but I believe we'll have more details on achievements and such once we are closer to releaseing Galaxy :)

3. It depends on the older games themselves. Some you might be able to, some might be beyond saving but we'll at least make it so you can autoupdate them with our fixes should we make any for the older games :)
Posted June 06, 2014
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Senteria: So when is it coming? :)
Soon? :P
Posted June 06, 2014
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JudasIscariot: 1. No deal is being made, instead we're giving you the chance to play with others like it used to be before digital distribution :) Remember when you popped in a multiplayer game like Quake and then just surfed the servers without a third party app? Galaxy is kind of like that :)
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Pheace: So, that kind of makes it sound like it won't be compatible with currently existing matchmaking services like Steamworks multiplayer etc. Only if it's designed for Galaxy?

Also very much leaves open the ownership check.
Galaxy's purpose, among other things, is to allow you to play with others online without worrying that you won't be able to connect to them because the other person doesn't have the GOG version of the game.

For example, you and a friend buy a game with multiplayer on two different services. You buy it here and your friend has the Steam version. You will still be able to play with each other.

I am not sure about the ownership check you mention as that's more of a technical question and I don't have all the technical details at hand myself.
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JudasIscariot: Soon? :P
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BKGaming: Come now... why hold out? I'm ready to fork over my games to Galaxy... I just need you to make it happen. :P

Can we get a beta please... I'd happily test an unfinished Galaxy. :P
You can sign up here:

http://www.gog.com/galaxy?par=1
Post edited June 06, 2014 by JudasIscariot
Posted June 06, 2014
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JudasIscariot: 1. No deal is being made, instead we're giving you the chance to play with others like it used to be before digital distribution :) Remember when you popped in a multiplayer game like Quake and then just surfed the servers without a third party app? Galaxy is kind of like that :)
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amok: sooo... how are you doing that? do you expect Galaxy players of for example Brutal Legend to suddenly be able to play MP with the Steamworks version of Brutal Legend?
Yes, that's exactly it :)
Posted June 06, 2014
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RawSteelUT: This is pretty cool, I'll admit. However, I'm more than slightly concerned about the future.

A) Will games need to be re-downloaded, or can our current installs be kept with Galaxy?

B) Can we get offline installers off Galaxy, the way we can with the current Downloader?

C) What happens when a publisher wants their game to work only through Galaxy? Are you guys willing to give up on such games if said publisher won't offer a true DRM-Free download?

Basically, it's optional now, but will it be so in the future?
A. You can keep the current installers you have now but we will be updating our installers to be compatible with Galaxy if you choose to use it. In short, they will have the Galaxy features but they'll remain dormant if you don't wish to use Galaxy.

B. If you're asking about standalone installers for games, then you'll always have the option to get a standalone installer and any patches that come with it as always.

C. If a publisher doesn't offer a true DRM Free download then we won't publish their game. Keep in mind that DRM free is one of our main values.

edit: Galaxy will always remain optional.
Post edited June 06, 2014 by JudasIscariot
Posted June 06, 2014
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JudasIscariot: B. If you're asking about standalone installers for games, then you'll always have the option to get a standalone installer and any patches that come with it as always.
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Nicole28: Judas, will Galaxy let us download the stand-a-lone installers without the client auto-installing for you, or is the only option to get the stand-a-lone installers through direct download from the GOG website?
I believe there should some settings that will allow you to configure Galaxy to work just the way you want to. I don't have a copy of the client on hand but knowing our devs I am sure they will include as many options as possible upon release and will take feedback from the community at large :)
Posted June 06, 2014
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JudasIscariot: I believe there should some settings that will allow you to configure Galaxy to work just the way you want to. I don't have a copy of the client on hand but knowing our devs I am sure they will include as many options as possible upon release and will take feedback from the community at large :)
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pbnjoe: Wonderful! Looking forward to it even more now.
Did you sign up on the Galaxy page I linked earlier? :)
Posted June 06, 2014
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JudasIscariot: I believe there should some settings that will allow you to configure Galaxy to work just the way you want to. I don't have a copy of the client on hand but knowing our devs I am sure they will include as many options as possible upon release and will take feedback from the community at large :)
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Nicole28: Thanks for the quick answer, Judas. :)
You're quite welcome :)
Posted June 06, 2014
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JudasIscariot: Did you sign up on the Galaxy page I linked earlier? :)
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pbnjoe: I did indeed; tried again and it said I already did, so 100% sure :p

So that's both the Galaxy and WAG beta?
Yes as you can't test out the new features without a game and it's nice to be able to do both at the same time :)
Posted June 06, 2014
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JudasIscariot: Yes as you can't test out the new features without a game and it's nice to be able to do both at the same time :)
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pbnjoe: Perfect! Thanks for the responses Judas.
You're welcome :)
Posted June 06, 2014
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amok: have you seen the announcement?

http://www.gog.com/galaxy
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npalsensei: Yes, what's wrong with it?

Now apparently preordering Witcher 3 gives beta keys. Where do I find these? They aren't in the confirmation e-mail. Or do I need to sign up for Galaxy beta?
The pre-order page says that the beta keys will be available in Summer 2014 :)
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Community
General discussionIntroducing: GOG Galaxy, the DRM-Free online gaming platform(35 posts)(35 posts)
(35 posts)