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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
with all this recent expanding, I think you might be forgetting the gog-basics. as great as gog is, even after all those years, it still has one of the worst review systems on the web. that's a known issue and yet doesn't get addressed. to me, gog doesn't only stand for drm-free games, but for good old games as well and I'd really appreciate if you could try to improve the (former?) "core" stuff as well.
As much as I hate the unfair pricing of the witcher 3 preorder offer, I applaude the idea of that optionnal client and sincerely hope it quickly becomes a stable program. I'll gladly install it.

As for GOG Galaxy crossplay, I am intrigued and hope it'll work too and that more and more title will be compatible.

Wait and see for now...
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RadonGOG: I´m also not that big autopatcher fan, but some games clearly need it; e.g. the upcoming Planetary Annihilation or StarCitizen! (I´m sure that this plattform was designed with having those two games in mind, as well as maybe the Homeworld Remake and the AgeOf-Rereleases...)
This sub-plattform allows GOG to offer them without cutting away the multiplayer!
I guess. I have no interest in any of those ; I already own Homeworld and the remake will be an abomination anyway.
Ah, this sounds something I've been waiting for from GOG, so good to see that it's provided for us.
Not really interested. Automatic updates - not really needed on older games. New games mostly have in built updaters. Achievements - ah well probably effects of Steam - who really needs this. Multiplayer - never use that. Will probably stay with only gogs online store and no client.
Post edited June 06, 2014 by Matruchus
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This is about competing directly with Steam, on their home turf, but on GOG's terms - that's what GOG Galaxy brings. It's about facing them head-to-head and beating them at their own game.

It doesn't matter if you'll use it. It doesn't matter if you care. GOG will still be selling its classic DRM-free games, and those of us who love that will continue to love it as ever. What matters is that this new platform has the potential to transform the game distribution industry and take a big bite out of Steam's gargantuan DRM-berry pie. And that's why GOG Galaxy may be the most important thing to happen to its industry since GOG itself.
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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.
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Fallen_Zen: Yes, you will be able to use GOG.com just as you use it now.
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!)

I also wonder if this opens the door for GOG to potentially resurrect dead MMOs who's servers have been turned off - not that I'm that interested in MMOs myself, it just seems a shame that any part of gaming history can be just gone forever if the publisher retires the server...

Is there going to be library management in the client and /or will library management via the website be improved? (especially support for categories)
Post edited June 06, 2014 by Fever_Discordia
Excellent! I've been hoping for something like this where I can get access to my catalogue without necessarily having to come onto the site, and have automatic updates too. I like achievements too. Not sure I fully understand the cross-play side of things, but sounds like I can safely ignore that - or the entire thing - if I wanted to.
what does this mean for gog.com titles which have active multiplayer, and future gog.com old-game releases which do not require clients for multiplayer. does all that happen through the client now?
This is awesome! Steam has always been a slightly more convenient service, but it has always frustrated me that I don't own games on Steam.
Also, I really like that GOG Galaxy will try to connect people instead of being yet another service where you are trapped away from friends on other services.
All in all, I'm pretty optimistic!
Like most others here, I don't care for multiplayer. Most of the time, anyway.

Still, I feel the need to nitpick. When I voted OK to multiplayer keys/accounts, I understood it was for games with an important online part, such as a persisting metagame or stuff like that. If I buy a game DRM-free, I would expect to be able to play with a friend I already know without needing to go through unreliable third party servers. Will this be possible?
As long as this "Great new feature" really stays completly optional ...without drawbacks for those how don't use it...
This is just brilliant. Galaxy FTW
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DF1871: As long as this "Great new feature" really stays completly optional ...without drawbacks for those how don't use it...
Well, the whole point of such a client is to give advantages in the use of it, so not using it will present disadvantages (no auto updates, etc...).
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DF1871: As long as this "Great new feature" really stays completly optional ...without drawbacks for those how don't use it...
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Zoidberg: Well, the whole point of such a client is to give advantages in the use of it, so not using it will present disadvantages (no auto updates, etc...).
That assumes auto-updating is a universal, proven advantage over manual patching. It isn't.
Post edited June 06, 2014 by Erich_Zann