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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
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?
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RawSteelUT:
I think the idea is that if you don't want to have anything to do with it, you don't have to have anything to do with it.

I'm currently procrastinating so it would be nice to see actual details at some point.
If that's a wrapper to the same master browsers the steamonly versions use, great!
But, beloved game devs, don't forget to include the option to set up/ connect to your own listen server. In lostech words: LAN.
I think it's a great thing for people that were requesting it, but thank you for not making it mandatory.

One of the reasons I buy on GOG and don't use steam is that I don't want a client other than the game itself installed and running on my pc.

Thanks for leaving us the choice.
high rated
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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
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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.
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?
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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.
I think RawSteelIUT is asking if Galaxy will download the installers for games the same way the current downloader already does (allowing you to save them anywhere), or will Galaxy be a direct-install sort of thing, like Steam does.

Edit: ninja'd
Post edited June 06, 2014 by pbnjoe
I like the idea of the client, and it has been one thing that gOg have been lacking (especially auto patching if really wanting to introduce alphas), I must say that the share hubris of the highfaluting announcement is astonishing...

Someone must tell gOg you do not own your games, you own a license to play them. And it is good to hear that an optional client finally have got a term: "We call it the OPTIONAL CLIENT" - and it has such a nice ring to it. As announcement goes.... this was not the best. "We call this FREEDOM OF CHOICE"...... *sigh*
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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 :)
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amok: I like the idea of the client, and it has been one thing that gOg have been lacking (especially auto patching if really wanting to introduce alphas), I must say that the share hubris of the highfaluting announcement is astonishing...

Someone must tell gOg you do not own your games, you own a license to play them. And it is good to hear that an optional client finally have got a term: "We call it the OPTIONAL CLIENT" - and it has such a nice ring to it. As announcement goes.... this was not the best. "We call this FREEDOM OF CHOICE"...... *sigh*
What? You on the pot?
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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?
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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 :)
Wonderful! Looking forward to it even more now.
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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? :)
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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?
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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 :)
Thanks for the quick answer, Judas. :)
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amok: I like the idea of the client, and it has been one thing that gOg have been lacking (especially auto patching if really wanting to introduce alphas), I must say that the share hubris of the highfaluting announcement is astonishing...

Someone must tell gOg you do not own your games, you own a license to play them. And it is good to hear that an optional client finally have got a term: "We call it the OPTIONAL CLIENT" - and it has such a nice ring to it. As announcement goes.... this was not the best. "We call this FREEDOM OF CHOICE"...... *sigh*
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Tarm: What? You on the pot?
i wish.... I even kept the caps as is from the captions.

edit: sprelling
Post edited June 06, 2014 by amok
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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 :)