If you could change (or improve) one thing about GOG, what would it be?

IMO there are a number of issues, but I keep going back to an issue inherent in GOG's "new release" business model.business model...

... the "staggered" GOG release date.

While I understand the issues inherent in coaxing publishers to release DRM-free content on GOG -- and why many wait to release on GOG -- it often becomes an issue where once a game releases on GOG (if that indeed happens at all) I've already picked up said game far earlier on another platform (or console). While GOG is my preferred digital store... with the uncertainty of many titles ever making it to GOG, this store often becomes a place where -- once a "new" title actually releases -- I have to debate spending money a second time on a game...

... instead of GOG making the initial sale.

I can imagine GOG does not have the money EGS has in order to coax publishers into market situations that they wouldn't usually subscribe, but I see this "staggered" release issue as GOG's biggest problem since moving out of exclusively "good old games" and into new releases.

For my part, almost every month I email 2 - 5 developers and / or publishers and ask them to release on GOG... but sadly, rarely do I get anything in return.

This used to be not necessary, but, sadly, it's become necessary:

GOG would be 100% unabashedly DRM-free. None of this shit like CP2077, Absolver, Carcasonne, No Man's Sky... Galaxy would be truly optional; no features would rely on it. "Via Galaxy" multiplayer wouldn't require an account, just the library alongside the game installation to go through. Offline installers would be scripted and happen smoothly and automatically (not to mention punctually). Galaxy wouldn't have a API call or function even to check ownership.

Galaxy, as you could see, could still exist entirely for optional features (like cloud saves, messaging opt-in, etc).

EVERYTHING ELSE is secondary to and in support of this. This is only partly [minorly] a developer and GOG problem. Thisis mostly a YOU problem. Stop making bad decisions and renting on other platforms. It's harming you and your fellow gamer to do so.

I'd bring back the GOG Downloader.

More
Old
Games
!
(!)

For GOG to match the regional pricing scheme with Epic and Steam'

I'd set up a very small subsidiary studio whose one and only job is to nail down licensing issues with abandonware and update them for modern platforms. GOG itself does this sometimes but it's very intermittent, and an explicitly defined entity would get better visibility within the industry.

One thing that would make me more confident in spending my money here is the insurance that a game here will have feature parity with Steam. Whether that requires better automation, stricter contract enforcement or some kind of dark magic, it would certainly be a step in the right direction.

For starters. ^this^ - All of it.

I'd change direction and be for gamers (as they claim to be), rather than trying to compete with Steam.

For GOG with its original form and ideals to be the overwhelming dominant force in the industry and market.

The ability to mass-download all your offline game installers with peer-to-peer technology, e.g. bittorrent. So basically the same idea as with gogrepo.py, but including peer-to-peer ability, in order to maximize download speeds.

E.g. Humble Bundle offers the option to use bittorrent in order to download your game installers from them.

Remove GOG Galaxy completely.

Flesh out their Browser Based library with live chat and live games playing status.

Partner up with 3rd party (Parsec) and/or open source projects to help with online MP with a transparent ongoing talk with the GOG community toward online MP that is more peer to peer.

A divorce and a move of house.

1: Separate GOG from the drama of CDPR.

2: Move GOG to a location with an actual talent pool, instead of talent leftovers, talent crumbs & talent "check behind the fridge, maybe something fell there.". I think France might be ideal; and no I don't mean "Stick yourself in the middle of Paris and act like you're the Ritz".
GOG could really advance with a lot of open source tech, but the fact that MojoSetup hasn't been updated since 2010 IN SPITE of the software getting updates to this very day does seem to speak volumes.

Why GOG didn't do as Steam did and help contribute to so many projects to help advance them has baffled me. By the work of Proton alone, Wine has made absurd strides.

The biggest thing wrong with GOG is that it is not at all viable for multiplayer because very few GOG games have Crossplay with Steam.

Yet when GOG first introduced Crossplay, they advertised it as a feature that would allow you to play with friends from other platforms as a normal, standard, every day thing that happens all the time with most, if not all, multiplayer games on GOG.

And all these many years later, GOG still never lifted a finger to even attempt finally to deliver on that promise.

Instead, they perpetually ignore the problem of GOG being an unviable multiplayer platform because they won't invest in fixing the Crossplay feature and making sure it becomes vastly more widely-adopted.

This is no doubt one of the main reasons why GOG remains a small store with very few customers relative either to Steam and/or EGS.

I echo the sentiment of being actually 100% DRM-free, meaning to fix all offending titles and activation schemes... However, as a practical matter, I wonder if the most effective change towards that end would be to just remove Galaxy.

If you think about it, that is really where the violation of DRM-free has occurred/is occurring. I know there were/are other activations through third-party for some games, unique LAN keys and whatnot, none of which I approve of mind you, but it seems Galaxy has allowed for similar phenomena on a much more widespread scale here. And that's without even getting into the partnership with Epic where evidently there are openly-admitted DRMed games sold through the new app on GOG Galaxy 2.0 store. This client being there is just too tempting for these companies to resist requiring.

What would it look like in a hypothetical, imo improved store, without Galaxy? Offline installers only. This would essentially remove access to the currently gated content (same as if having to remove the offending games which devs/pubs/GOG refuse to fix), which sounds bad, but keep in mind this is already (effectively) the case for those of us who refuse to use Galaxy. Most likely too, less games incoming. While I believe GOG pushes Galaxy, it is obvious that games these days are made with Scheme or other clients in mind, so without Galaxy they would either be stripped of such features or not accepted. To have an actually full DRM-free store the way I see it, is worth such tradeoff.

I know a lot of folks use it to download their games, enjoy the social media, etc. I just don't think it, at least in the form it has become, works well with a DRM-free ethos. I also think it is hard if not impossible to have limited that.