Well, that's a past long gone and I doubt that GOGers would like to get their patches from different sites though in fact it would be one possibility ... but why not do it the easiest way?

The indie dev? Also, how could GOG prevent this at all? Using antivirus software? ... They still can because they can scan whatever will get uploaded automatically and rejecting everything that's suspicious. This however is completely different than needing a person to check a build.

I partly agree with this, GOG seem to be focused on trying to jump into bigger pants when they've got stick legs. Ignoring the core users at your heart is a sure way to send your ship straight into the rocks where crying face emotes and dated memes won't save you. I don't even see them talking much about anything other than galaxy, despite a prime chance to talk about preservation with the hype around digital consoles and stuff like games pass. This would, of course, be assuming they even pay attention to the industry and culture outside of RT'ing cyberpunk.

It's kinda sad given they have such a good principle and a quality lime of titles ONLY on GOG, yet they don't care. It's like going to a greatest hits tour of Metallica and they only play St.Anger.

There has been some allegations made here, and they seemed to be based off the back of something one DEV said.

Of course, DEVs come in all shapes and sizes, and after some of the behavior I've heard about and seen, I am not so sure you can trust them just like that. Some might have greater access than others after they have proved themselves etc.

What happened with No Man Sky also comes to mind, and supposedly there are others where the DEVS don't do the right thing. And what about all those games in development here that have been abandoned, while not always the same case at Steam for them.

So I'm not so sure that I would be so trusting of DEVs if I was GOG. Who knows, maybe DEVs could do updates in the past, but screwed things up in some or many cases, and just created more work for GOG .. and we kind of know they are understaffed.

Just trying to be the voice of reason here and offer a different perspective. That doesn't mean I am absolving GOG from all guilt or any guilt, and they may indeed be doing things badly or wrongly.

What concerns me more in recent times, is the updates for offline files are falling way behind those of the Galaxy ones for the same game. That is a lot more troubling because it is clearly a deliberate mindset issue and not due to flawed or bad or out-of-date practices.

I'm also pretty sure GOG has not been operating on all barrels for some time, and we have seen many aspects here suffering for many months now ... and COVID hasn't helped ... probably some of them working on Cyberpunk hasn't helped either.

That said, we have had a fairly steady flow of newly added games in recent times, while it was looking somewhat bad for a while. Perhaps due to low staffing they focus in different areas at different times, especially when they perceive us natives are getting restless.

That's a completely different issue and I would love to hear the latest report on this from GOG. Like I said, my latest info (which is already a few years old) was that these are created automatically after Galaxy has been updated. However it seems that this isn't always the case because ... something went wrong. If this happens GOG has to do those manually which might take much more time. A few days ago I reported one of those missing offline installer updates and got the reply that they not just fixed the issue but also figured out WHY this could happen at all.

" offline installer" ... "should be now up to date. We have also identified the issue with installer's publishing process, so it will be updated alongside the GALAXY installer."

So maybe they could figure this out for every game with missing offline installer updates which are a lot.

so you go straight from a problem that ONE dev described to pushing the headline that it is categorically GOG's fault if games are not up to date?
Trying to apply for a job with the tabloid press by any chance ?
This is the problem with discussions nowadays. First goal is always to maximize agitation.

They would also have to start hiring externally. I have a guess on the cards there's an element in the building (taxation aside) that is preventing them from implementing this and a remote work policy, seeing as every potential application to GOG is ruined by one line: "The hired individual will need to work in-house, in our office based in Warsaw, Poland." Even the new applications which should address, "Yes! We are in a pandemic! Remote work will be first priority."

In careful wording, someone high up at GOG does not want to deal with "Internationals", is my thought at this point. Which is great, when most of the world views Poland as a negative in terms of prospects.

(That and picking LA as an external office location was a pretty stupid idea. Up there with Chucklefish moving to London.)
There is enough evidence internally to more than suggest a credible idea that GOG's processes are pants on head backwards.

It's definitely not just one dev. I've heard variants of "we've already sent the update to GOG" from numerous developers way too many times to believe they're all telling the same lie (or just all being incompetent in the same exact way). Either GOG hasn't given them direct access to upload updates at all, or they've just communicated and documented the process very poorly (hey, GOG and communication don't really fit in the same sentence).

It's funny how so many GOG fans always attack the developer right off the bat. As if GOG, who's frequently slow to do anything at all, and frequently does make technical blunders, and frequently fails to communicate, somehow were a completely different and faultless company when it comes to handling updates. I never believed it for a second, it's just too damn unlikely.

Here, two recent examples of developers having submitted files that take a while to show up:

https://www.gog.com/forum/general/disappointed_and_frustrated_with_the_lack_of_care_put_into_maintaining_offline_installers/post10

https://www.gog.com/forum/ion_fury/beta_v11_when/post10

(There are more, but I'm not going to dig for them)

Your post makes it sound as if you determined that this policy exists based on the description from that single developer.
No one is going argue that it is indeed a problem if game devs for some reason don't get access to upload stuff via the galaxy backend. But there hasn't been any evidence that GOG is systematically doing that, has there ?

side note:
personally i am still not sold on the premise that the lack of an automated upload process gives developers a valid excuse not to update their games here. Didn't agree with that before galaxy existed, don't agree with it now.
I don't think game developers deserve that the blame is getting shifted entirely to GOG.

you want GOG to notice you and you post on the forums ? you must be new here :p
(sorry, couldn't resist that) ;)


what the heck am I supposed to do with that post? Get out my crystall ball and ask: "what knowledge might Darvond be alluding to?"

See also: Clarry's post.

you are shifting goal posts. Nobody is contesting that updates, that got sent manually, get delayed (or sometimes get lost) in GOG HQ. Neither is anybody contesting that there are devs who still send in their updates manually.

But what the OP is claiming is that GOG does not _allow_ some developers (at least one) to use the galaxy infrastructure at all. And the OP is quite right that this would be quite illogical and nonsensical, given all the decisions that GOG made in the past 4 years or so. What I haven't seen is any evidence that there actually is a policy behind this where GOG separates devs into the cool guys (allowed to use galaxy) and the uncool guys (not allowed to use galaxy).

And none of your links offers any additional evidence to that.

argubly, it was gOg who did it. Developers sent them the files, but it was gOg who packaged them and built the installers. so you have the same bottleneck there

edit - and as other have said, one of the benefits of using Galaxy was to remove this bottlenack by letting the developers push their own patches, and make availabe micro-patching. hate Steam as much as you want, but here is something gOg could definitly learn from.

And why would that be? Perhaps GOG hasn't given them access. Or perhaps they've done a terrible job explaining how the process works. I don't understand why developers would waste a month on that janky manual process while listening to recurring complaints from users if they actually had the keys to just upload a new version and be done with it. Yet this is exactly what is going on and nobody seems to be too happy with it.

You're right, I have no direct evidence to prove OP's point. But one thing is clear, many developers (even "fresh" ones) are still using that old & slow manual process even though the better alternative has supposedly been there for years now. If there's someone who can do something about that, it's GOG.

I think it's a good thing that developers don't have access to the update to avoid them put something bad on any update.
Both solution ( give them access or check before release updates)are not perfect, but personaly i prefer a safe game than an update version that might be release with crap software in it by malicious developer.

I have no idea what the hell this company is doing anymore... but whatever it is it is not on a sustainable trajectory.