No Man's Sky has been on GOG for a while, but updates have added single-player features that require Galaxy. Specifically, things like the quicksilver shop which is missing most of its stock if you've only ever played offline (despite these items allegedly being able to be added in with save editors) and quicksilver missions. Perhaps other things, not sure. When this was brought to GOG's attention, how did they respond? By adding this to the store page down below where the system requirements are listed:

"The game features online components introduced in updates (SYNTHESIS, BYTEBEAT, LIVING SHIP, EXO MECH, CROSSPLAY, DESOLATION and ORIGINS) that require Internet connection."

So they're aware they're selling a game with partial DRM, and they're okay with it. Is this GOG now? Is the only reason to shop here, games being completely DRM-free, finally dying? We can't let them get away with this or silently brush it off like they've done with so many things in the past. I'm bringing it to your attention in hopes that you can spread the word. Maybe if there's enough backlash GOG will finally do what's right. That's usually been how they operate.

Well, we need to lash back at them until they either discontinue the practice or the developers fix it. There should be no case in which any single player content is locked behind a DRMed wall.
EDIT: Submitted this ticket to GOG.com support:

The game has an online requirement. If you have no internet connection, most items and missions involving quicksilver are not available to the player. This is a form of DRM content. Please remove the content (or have the developer remove the content) of have them make it DRM free. This should be a violation of your contract as the game is no longer DRM free. If this isn't addressed (by more than a WARNING on the game card page) then I will refrain from any further purchases from GOG until it is remedied. DRM-Free is literally the ONLY thing that sets GOG.com apart from Steam or Epic. It is inferior in literally every other way to Steam, but I continue to patronize your store over Steam because of the core value (last one, now, innit?) of DRM-free. This is a non-starter for my shopping here in the future.

Thank you.


And this is from someone who regularly uses Galaxy. I love the thing most of the time. But I will not be forced to use it to access my content. DRM-Free is about future use.

Yes.

I'm not surprised. It's been creeping in slowly but surely. As far as GOG is concerned everything that will make people either use Galaxy or get lost is a good thing.

FCKDRM, eh? More like FCKOUROLDCUSTOMERS.

Indeed. Disapointing, but not the first time. There have been others, admittedly now removed, which have to differeing degrees had the online issue.
Shame as the game had actually got better since launch, and if now they are crippling it...

Putting aside the drama this thread will surely indulge in, it's an interesting case. The devs add more live service stuff after launch, what is GOG to do? Pull the game? If you already bought it, that just means no more updates, and if you'd rather have a version with some basic DRM free core then you're out of luck. There's no easy answer there.

GOG's kinda doomed to upset people either way, so as long as the game functions more or less the same as when it launched here, I think what they're doing is the best route to take. They certainly do not have the power to force the developer to change all these systems and how they work.

Not familiar with this game but what are those online components? If you can play the game offline and it's not missing something important then I don't consider that drm.

I guess there's a new set of missions that require some kind of new material that CANNOT be obtained through offline play, so a good chunk of the game is off-limits to offline players.

Yes and yes. It's the way GOG has been heading for several years now. Only backing off in the face of a backlash, each time they tried to make Galaxy more invasive and more mandatory.

Let's hope we can convince them again. But the outcries unfortunately get smaller and smaller as GOG drives away their original, DRM-free purist, customer base. However, we can only try. What GOG can do, as a bare minimum, is to keep two separate versions and clearly mark, which one is tainted by DRM.

What I would wish them to do is to either ask the developer/publisher to keep the game DRM-free, or yes, remove the game from the store. They have done so in the past when games turned out not to be DRM-free after all and the promise to keep singleplayer games DRM-free is the last of the GOG promises that they hadn't broken so far. And, honestly, the last reason to buy games here.

+1. You consistently have some of the most reasonable takes I've seen the forum.

I love how demanding GOG hold up it's one remaining core promise is "indulging in drama" now. I wonder how long untill it becomes straight up "hate speech".

We're screwed. This community can no longer create a backlash strong enough. Most users who would are gone, and the rest, as seen above, will gladly toe the party line as the definition of DRM-free is eroded into meaninglessness.

DRM wrapped around online-only "DLC" that requires an always online client to handle the verification check for whether the content is accessible in-game or not, doesn't cease to be DRM simply because some may personally find the content itself personally "unimportant". We saw the same thing with DX:MD (content that was originally sold on Steam as one-time-use or "pay-per-play" meaning you had to re-buy it each playthrough), and that issue was fixed on the GOG offline installer version because regardless of who deems it "important" enough to purchase or not, it was still online DRM in a DRM-Free offline installer on a DRM-Free store. And this stuff isn't just about one game today - it sets a significant negative precedence for tomorrow...

A lot of people will be watching the resolution of this as it's certainly going to push GOG to clarify the long-term naturally contradictory plan of a "completely optional DRM-Free client" that simultaneously increasingly handles in-game online-only live content purchases which obviously requires some form of compulsory DRM check. In short, aside from fixing this game they're going to have to stop 'straddling the fence' over "optional" Galaxy and be honest about exactly where they want to be in 5 years time. "In App Purchases" or DRM-Free. Pick 1 of 2. It's really down to that.

Yes. Not necessarily. I never owned The Long Dark but I remember it getting removed and it continued to get updates. Though I admit that is an exception and probably not possible to maintain the updates on No Man's Sky. But, this is kind of a digression from the subject of DRM. Yes there is. The game used to be DRM-free, it morphed into something else, thus it should be removed from the DRM-free storefront. But the ways they "upset" people are not equal. One way erodes the brand identity of the store, the other way (removing the game) maintains and reinforces it.



What is really concerning is that I see GOG's response on this issue as a sort of test run for future games here with microtransactions and other forms of online requirements to access parts of games. GWENT is already here. Galaxy already gates multiplayer behind what is imo DRM (and seems to be the case based on a plain reading of FCKDRM.com). Cyberpunk has a separate multiplayer entry coming with microtransactions. Seriously, how do you (not you personally; GOG, anyone..) draw the line between DRMing certain parts of a game and DRMing the whole thing. The standard on FCKDRM.com to be featured as a source of media is to be "100% DRM-free". Is GOG's motto to be "sometimes we are DRM-free, other times, nah"?

Could have been just an oversight on GoG's end?
Certainly wouldn't be the first time that it has to be pointed out, like just recently with the mentioned Deus Ex: Mankind Divided extra content.

The game still plays completely offline right? They just added a bunch of new content that depends on being online? So in theory nothing was taken away from the DRM free game you bought, you're just not getting the new additions without DRM. I think this is trickier than just "it has DRM now it has to go!"

A lot of games here have DRM'd multiplayer. Most people don't complain because they see multiplayer as an online thing anyway. If you perhaps view this as optional online content added on top of the DRM content you paid for, doesn't that make it not so simple?


Then everyone who bought it already, and likely use Galaxy since the majority do, is quite possibly out of luck when it comes to patches for this update and possible future updates. I don't think that's something GOG can do anywhere near as easily or casually as you suggest. Not by a long shot.