If Valve is showing weakness, it's nothing compared to the shitshow that gog put on recently...

That's really all there is to say about this.

At the rate things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if gog has either implemented mandatory Galaxy or closed up shop before 2020. Maybe both.

The reason is because most gamers don't care one iota about paying top dollar in order to rent DRM-infested games. That reason is not "very good;" in fact, it's quite terrible.

Sure they can, or at least, they used to be able to. The website was great before they ruined it for no reason whatsoever for GOG's 10th Anniversary.

My prediction: In 2020 both, Steam and GOG will still exist and be profitable, but their combined market share will have shrunk and other competing services will have gained traction. The decade of Steams dominance is surely coming to an end but GOG won't be the one taking advantage. It will be somebody else.

Strike and do what, exactly?

GOG will do what Henry the Red is leading.

Simple reality - Artifact it is a bunch of crap. I hope Valve will be burn in the hell.

What I've never really understood is what make people believe that if Valve did in fact lose significant market share that it would be GoG to step into that void since IMO there is nothing in the past 10 years that would give indication that GoG was on the cusp of becoming a serious major player when it comes to digital game distribution. They almost certainly would have to sacrifice even more standards because publishers would demand it.

The more likely scenario is a lot of these publishers (specifically the big ones) would just create their own digital platform and sell their games on there, that way they eliminate the middle man entirely. Someone should ask Blizzard how much they regret not having games like Overwatch on Steam because it's sold only through Battle.net.

It seems the "strike" came from Epic Games:

"Epic Games announced Tuesday the launch of their new online store, which will have an 88 to 12 percent split for developers.

A date for the store opening has not been released, but a statement from Epic said it will launch soon and will include, "a hand-curated set of games on PC and Mac and will open up more broadly to additional games and other open platforms throughout 2019."

Maybe partly OT but actually, with the recent events (the launch of Epic Games Store and Discord Store), it becomes much more clear why Valve is investing into Linux so much. Microsoft will be really aggressive in the coming years, they have a store and a game pass to push, and on Linux there is no Origin, Uplay, Epic Games Store, Twitch Launcher, Battle.net, (sadly) GOG (no client, a lot of missing linux versions etc.), Discord Store, Microsoft Store. It's like Nintendo's blue ocean strategy. They'll be there first, because they're already there, when Microsoft inevitably starts to "drive away" competitors from Windows to make people embrace their platform.

As stupid as this may seem, I think that the digital games market is on the verge of some sort of collapse which will happen sooner or later. It's greed that's making all of this.

Steam has grown too big for its own sake and it's now shaking on its foundations. I suspect the outcome will be almost a sort of a "return to the origins" where every big publisher will have its store to sell its own products.
Like Bethesda selling Bethesda games and EA selling its games, etc etc.

The only way for GOG to survive this is for them to change their standards and become more friendly to devs and their customer base and keep humble while the shitstorm passes.

As for Steam, I suspect it will go the Desura path. A store filled more and more with shovelware indie trash which one day will close.
I suspect it's somehow karmic. It was corporate greed that led VALVE to forget about Half-Life 3 (the franchise which gave them the money and means to launch Steam) and focus almost their entire attention on the store.

Gog will have a hard time surviving among all the digital stores.

There will be a collapse

Quite likely. But not only of GOG.

GOG needs to get over its crippling "wannabe Steam" complex and find a way of being its own thing again.

Agreed!
Specially because GOG has a very dedicated fanbase.

The vast majority of Steam users are on it only because of the cheap games. They don't care about DRM or other issues. They just want to buy cheap and play games. They'll buy on the store that sells them cheaper, regardless if the games are loaded with DRM, clients or Spyware.

The only way for GOG to survive is to appeal to the gamers who are into the "ethical" (I can't find a better word) side of consumer rights.

Strike, GOG !

STRIKE !!!! NOW !!!

WHYYY AAAARE YOU NOT STRIIIKIIIIING ?????