I'm a lot more optimistic. Eg:-

- For the oldest games of all here (pre 1995 stuff) the bulk of the compatibility work has been done by DOSBox / ScummVM team without which 16-bit games wouldn't run at all on 64-bit OS's no matter how GOG repackaged it.

- Other games like Doom 1-2 & Quake run 1000x better on source-ports like GZDoom than the vanilla tweaks GOG have done.

- Others still have involved unofficial patching from dedicated communities (eg, Kentie's Launcher for Deus Ex, Tafferpatcher for Thief 1-2 & SS2, Morrowind & Oblivion Unofficial Fixes, new DX8-10 renderers for Unreal Engine 1 DX7 games, etc).

- WSGF (Widescreen Gaming Forum) is the largest repository for community patches that add widescreen to old games.

- PCGamingWiki hosts a huge database of fixes & enhancements for games.

I certainly hope that GOG continue to have a long & healthy life but if the absolute worst happens, alternative compatibility fixes for many old games are out there on the web. It may involve slightly more effort than a one-click installer, but many of us are already used to that anyway due to owning a lot of old games on disc that GOG don't sell. And those of us who do know various tweaks & fixes are always happy to help those who don't when asked. :-)

Don't get mad at me just because I can buy and sell you with whatever I happen to have in my pockets. :P

Now if you'll excuse me, my servants have just informed me that they have finished installing my new solid gold bathtub. I'm off to soak.

Humphries! Bring me my rubber ducky! The Tiffany one with the 200 14 carat diamonds embedded on it!

Wow, Gaben has developed a magical server that requires no upkeep and cost? What a genius!

Btw., I DON'T believe that this supposed "DRM-free patch" exists, but even if it did, it wouldn't work in any way like you describe. Because that is simply impossible.

Glad I'm not the only one to notice the bizarre logic leap.

I read this article in it's time so I know he said something similar, however you are missing two important points :

First he never mentioned anything about "downloading" he just said releasing a patch to remove Steam activation requirement, as if you have the game downloaded you can play without needing to activate it on Steam.

Second and it's the most important "detail" when he said that 99.999% of all the games on Steam.... were Valve own games!

So it was easy to promise a patch to remove Steam requirement from their own games. He never promised that said patch would also works for third parties.

Wait, I must have missed this one.
1. You claim to care for customers seemingly unable to backup their games if GOG goes kaput,
2. You'd be happy if GOG spouts bullshit about the games being available after shutdown, and the customers lose out anyway.

So according to your arguments you only care how these unskilled customers feel right up until the point they get shafted by the company. Interesting.

That was a lie or more likely ignorance. For proof look at the client dropping support for 9x and 2000 and most recently XP and old MacOS versions. Nothing was done for those operating systems even though the technical solutions are very simple and nothing will be done when Steam is gone. The publishers of the games on Steam would have to approve "your" games to be played in a perpetual offline mode by a Valve patch and Valve can't fix 3rd party DRM when a perpetual Offline Mode is used without the Publishers providing a patch for each game so yeah.

waste of money IMHO. I'm sure MEGA will help, if GOG goes out of business.

With drm like Denuvo infesting most modern releases. I doubt that Steam would easily release a "drm remover" nowadays.

Downloading games is the easy part. Staying on top of the updates. Pain in the ass.

I love when people include the solution to their "problem" with it and still demand answers and action.

Out of every single option of owning a video game, GOG already gives you the most certainty and security. Download a game, it's yours forever no strings attacked if you only keep it backed up (unless the game itself relies on developer/publisher server upkeep, what about those?).

Anything else, whether it's Steam, Origin, uPlay or even physical media - once they're gone you're either shafted, or need to rely on cracking if you made backups, and not even that if it was always-online. And with consoles, there's literally nothing you can do at all.

So yeah, it would be nice to have an official statement, but if GOG is making you stressed about your games, any other platform must make you cack yourself, if you're even daring to use them.

I think a "perpetual offline mode" as last resort before closing down is possible. But this lasts only so long as you don't need a new machine, and only for the games currently installed. When Steam goes down, there will be no backup installers for download as last resort, since they simply don't exist.

As for third-party DRM, this will of course continue to function like normal, since it's not tied to Steam. Although it would be interesting to see what would happen the other way around, if let's say UPlay kicks the bucket and many UBI-Steam games are tied to it - what would/could Valve do?

Delist those games from Steam, probably after getting enough reports from players that those games don't work.

Delist yes, of course.
But refunds? Even after years?

Tough luck. Except, perhaps, for a PR shitstorm.