Wow. So basically GOG has created a backdoor for games with DRM.

So GOG dropping their last core value confirmed then :/ And with a store that's as dodgy as EGS!

GOG really have no principles left now.

Well, I wouldn't say that. They haven't yet sold their souls to the Devil for untold riches. Or maybe...

True, I guess the next "Good News" (tm) could be that GOG/CDPR have been bought by Tencent...

I'm fucking laughing right now, optional DRM available on GOG right now and phew that went fast despite all fancy promises.

Unbelievable move.
That doesn't even make sense, are there any Epic customers who would prefer to buy their games using some other store?

It's unlikely that too many oldschool GOG customers will buy anything through that, but isn't there a huge risk that those newer GOG customers who are not in the DRM-free camp will buy some Epic games through Galaxy, and then start using Epic Games entirely? So I can't see any customer transfer from Epic to GOG, but the other way it's going to happen.

If GOG Connect with Steam wasn't a success, is some big GOG boss thinking this is a better idea?

And talking about Steam. If GOG starts selling keys to other game stores, why not start selling Steam keys instead? Bigger selection, more potential customers, and if they offered automatic DRM-free GOG Connect with every purchase, a bit like many games on Humble store and Itch.io do, they might even draw some customers from Steam.

Anyway, I guess this is the moment when the final original GOG principle is buried.

If they are selling game keys to other stores, which can only be bought using one client and then only be played using another client, I'm not sure if we should be laughing or crying over this.

I think it's an "epic" prank hoax to generate publicity for the upcoming Cyberpunk launch personally and that we're going to see a return of the French Monks seeking atonement.

Guess we will know by November 19th...

Nobody likes corners at CDPR, so they've been cut already...

We're probably going to be doing both (laughing and crying).

Problem is half the potential DRM-Free on Epic Store games that overlap with GOG's catalogue have already been given out as freebies:-

A Short Hike, ABZU, AER Memories of Old, Alan Wake, Alan Wake's American Nightmare, Amnesia The Dark Descent, Anodyne, Ape Out, Bad North, Close To The Sun, Conarium, Costume Quest, Darksiders 1 & 2, Enter The Gungeon, The Escapists, Everything, Fez, FTL, Figment, For The King, GNOG, Gone Home, Gonner, Hello Neighbor, Hob, Hyper Light Drifter, Inside, Into The Breach, Jotun, Kingdom: Come Deliverance, Kingdom New Lands, Last Day of June, Layers of Fear, Lifeless Planet, Limbo, Little Inferno, The Messenger, Metro 2033 Redux, Minit, Moonlighter, Mutant Year Zero, Mutazione, Nuclear Throne, Observer, Offworld Trading Company, Oxenfree, Overcooked, Pathway, QUBE2, Railway Empire, Rebel Galazy, RIME, Ruiner, Shadowrun Returns, Shadowrun Dragonfall, Shadowrun Hong Kong, Shadow Tactics: Blades Of The Shogun, Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments, Slime Rancher, SOMA, Stick It To The Man, Stories Untold, Sundered: Eldritch Edition, Superhot, Surviving Mars, Tacoma, Thimbleweed Park, This War Of Mine, Torchlight, Torchlight 2, Towerfall Ascension, What Remains of Edith Finch, Where The Water Tastes Like Wine, The Witness, The Wolf Among Us, World of Goo, Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair, etc.

Is someone somewhere hoping that people will rebuy those via Galaxy to basically just create a Galaxy shortcut? Or for the non-GOG overlap freebies like Batman Arkham trilogy, I literally don't know anyone who's that incredibly thick they'll say "I can't do this, so I'll spend $50 rebuying them via GOG for a glorified script that automates Galaxy shortcuts instead..."

The FCK drm site had already been compromised, Gabe was the first contributor.
Well, there is always the argument thati it’s not drm as drm only means denuvo, or securom (of course remove either of those if they are present on epic). Nothing but those two words constitute drm.

Well, I just posted my thoughts in the Galaxy 2.0 thread before I saw this one. The short summary is that I am not a fan of this change, and GOG moving away from DRM-free games will make me stop preferring GOG to Steam. Any sort of takeover attempt by Epic will cause me to stop buying from GOG entirely.

---Quoted text below---

I definitely DO NOT feel good about this announcement for the following reasons:

- I feel that it is unavoidable that this will lead to games with DRM from 3rd party stores being sold via GOG's storefront. GOG promoting sales of games with DRM (even if they are actually being bought from a 3rd party service) opposes GOG's DRM-free policy and weakens the unique/superior DRM-free market that CDPR has created.

- Partnering with Epic feels like the wrong choice here because Epic Games is known for paying millions of dollars to restrict access to games via exclusive agreements with 3rd party developers. Supporting Epic's restrictive business model contradicts GOG's consumer-focused mission. In addition, recent litigation by Epic against Apple makes collaborating with Epic on any store-related project a MAJOR legal and financial risk. I hope that CDPR has ironclad legal protections in place regarding commission percentages on sales of Epic Games Store games made via GOG's store.

- I am concerned that this will probably make it harder for me to find GOG's games for sale because games from other storefronts are being promoted instead. Did CDPR consider that this may actually draw customers away from GOG by helping customers build libraries on other services?

- Nothing has been said about whether there will be any guarantees that no personal data be provided to Epic as part of this change to GOG. Will 3rd party stores be able to access user data from GOG's store? This ambiguity makes me uneasy despite the fact that GOG has up until now been all about protecting user data.

So overall this upcoming change to GOG confuses me because it appears to go against GOG's mission statement and makes me very nervous because it seems like it could lead to other stores being in a position where they can strongly influence portions of GOG's operations. I really hope that this is a side project that is COMPLETELY optional, and also hope that this partnership does not change GOG's user-oriented policies so much that I am forced to reevaluate my personal policy to buy from GOG instead of Steam whenever possible.

I sure hope you're right... but somehow I doubt it.