In the software development industry, it is quite normal to drop support for old and obsolete products. That is why Microsoft is not supporting Windows 95, XP, Vista or 7 anymore. It has nothing to do whether MS would still be receiving too many support calls or whatever from their users, they are simply obsolete now and replaced with newer products.

Since Galaxy also offers the ability to download the offline installers AND one can also use web browsers for that, there simply is no reason to keep the old Downloader up anymore.

Its purpose for GOG was likely to pave the way for Galaxy.

Its purpose for users post-Galaxy was to have a basic alternative to Galaxy with some convenience.

I understand why GOG would want it gone, but fail to see how it wouldn't still serve users.

I'm surprised the plug wasn't pulled any sooner. Haven't used it once I started using Galaxy, and I still occasionally download something directly via website. *shrug*
Other than being more lightweight, I don't see a distinction. You still have to be signed in to either one to be able to download anything.

Calling it a client may be accurate in one sense, but it's not really what most people mean when they talk about what a client is, at least not in the context I've seen on the forums. What people typically mean is a client required to play the game, which isn't what the GoG downloader is. It's basically a download manager with a couple of other features, like update downloading and account notifications.

Calling it a client kind of ignores the context of what people mean when they talk about clients.

I often got corrupted files when downloading games through the browser though, so this is bad

No store has a "DRM-free delivery system". Without logging into an account, everybody could download ALL games for free. /end of all stores

That would require effort and not push people towards Galaxy though. So might as well forget it.

It exists for non-game stores at least. Buy stuff without account, just put in an email address and you will get a link to what you bought. IIRC, I also bought a book from a store without having to register once.

Galaxy isn't required to play games either, you can use it merely to download those same offline installers, which you can also download with your web browser or the obsolete GOG Downloader. I keep repeating this because so many people STILL seem to be confused by this, not knowing you can download the offline installers with Galaxy.

Sure Galaxy has lots of extra features that such user doesn't need (who doesn't intend to play the game(s) with the client), but that is beside the point. The different "downloader clients" (a web browser, GOG Downloader, Galaxy, gogrepo.py etc.) all require the user to log into his account before they can download their games.

Claiming that "Galaxy is a client and GOG Downloader is not" just because Galaxy has more optional features and is bigger in size, is just silly.

Logging into the store to download your purchase isn't DRM on the product that you've purchased. It's just accessing a distribution method.

Using that logic having to go to the grocery store to buy an apple is DRM on a piece of fruit.

Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!

I simply cannot say more about that decision. It was a bad one and now I will have to revert to other methods just because GOG does not want customers to stay happy. It was working great the way it was but you simply decided that it should not work anymore just because you can. GOG is really going down. I guess I will also stop trying to help GOG whenever I can ... just because I can. If I was ever really disappointed in GOG this is it. Shame on the people who made that decision.
THIS so much THIS. Archiving via browser is a pain in the butt. I used GOG downloader since 2009 and never had a problem with it (except for the one time in which GOG decided to not fix a broken link on their site ... again, becvause they could and decided).
Not much hope because GOG seems to go the way that they don't care anymore about customers wishes but voted for it anyway.
Nothing changed. GOG probably simply needs the workforce to redesign everything that is working right now (there has to be a reason why they are asking people about possible colours for games section on twitter since m,onths) until it isn't anymore. They constantly downgraded their web site and removed quality of life features (anybody here who is using the GOG support tickets for which they have completely removed the activities feature?). I am quite mad right now. In 2017 they asked 6 people of the community (myself included) what we - the ommunity - would want. Then they go out and do the opposite. Less feedback, still broken forum, redesigninmg a web site so that nothing is working anymore the way it should and now they are also removing the GOG downloader functionality even though they KNEW that many still love to use it.

Why does GOG even try to give us the feeling that they value our opinion when they clearly don't. At least this is not the way a company that wants to treat their customers well, should act. Then again it's probably all the big bosses high above who are making such stupid decisions.

So you are using a Python script and of course it is as simple to use as the "one click and wait" download in GOG downloader is - I doubt it is tbh. As long as people are happy to be able to use a certain tool it is absoluetely NOT obsolete. The decision if something should be removed or not should be made by the customers ... at least a poll would have been nice. But GOG rather asks people on twitter about colours for certain game genres ... yes, that is certainly much more important.
Whenever I tried using Galaxy to download my offline installers I had terrible download rates while GOG downloader was working great.

As long as your server-side changes do not affect lgogdownloader, I don't care. Downloading via the web was fine when I had maybe 20 games, but it's not manageable any more, especially since gog's update notifications are so unreliable (often missing updates). I should also point out that GOG GALAXY does not work on Linux, and likely never will in spite of promises when it was first announced. Not that GOG Downloader ever did, either, as far as I know.

It surely upsets me. Downloading via the GOG Downloader is/was a lot more convenient than via the browser, where you have to select for download all files. With the GOG Downloader, you only have to select one file and all bin files of the installer will be downloaded automatically. And Galaxy is supposed to be optional (I don't even have it installed).
This is the first time I felt obliged to downvote an official post from GOG.

The funny thing is that I used GOG Downloader this morning to update one game.

It's sad to know that GOG officially don't care to provide a simple solution (like gogrepo) for folks who don't like to use clients like Galaxy.

What's the story with Linux games then? Will you start supporting Galaxy for them on the backend (i.e. provide Linux builds through Galaxy API) or you will again treat Linux users as second class citizens, forcing us to only use the browser (since lgogdownloader won't work either for Linux versions if I understand correctly, once you decommission the downloader Web API).

lgogdownloader supports Galaxy API already, but it's now only exposed for Windows builds of games. Linux builds are excluded from it. So if you don't plan to enable Galaxy API on the server for Linux builds, this announcement sounds like a pure regression for Linux users.