1mo ago

GOG reportedly suffering from staff turnover and poor management: “Current business model is likely running out of steam”

gameworldobserver.com GOG reportedly suffering from staff turnover and poor management: “Current business model is likely running out of steam” | Game World Observer

GOG has reportedly cut dozens of jobs recently. Here are new details about the situation at CD Projekt’s subsidiary and the shortcomings of its business strategy.

GOG reportedly suffering from staff turnover and poor management: “Current business model is likely running out of steam” | Game World Observer

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In case of Steam.
With GOG I get an actual license key & terms that state my ownership.
- No you don't. You get the same license as you do on Steam, here's the license btw https://support.gog.com/hc/en-us/articles/16034990432541-GOG-User-Agreement-effective-from-17-February-2024?product=gog :
  We give you and other GOG users the personal right (known legally as a 'license') to use GOG services and to download, access and/or stream (depending on the content) and use GOG content. This license is for your personal use. We can stop or suspend this license in some situations, which are explained later on.
  Which is very similar to Steam. In both cases you can keep the files you've downloaded on your machine, and on most cases you can copy those files to a different machine and keep playing it. GOG has better marketing on this regard, but they're both very similar, neither enforces DRM nor forbids it entirely, although GOG does tend to be a bit stricter (but they still allow it) whereas steam is a bit looser but knowingly implemented a weak DRM and let's you know in the game page if the game has any stronger form of DRM.
  
  @Nibodhika @EvilShrubbery Stop Killing Games opened my eyes to the software "ownership" situation. In USA, apparently, noone ever owns any software. It's always licenced. Even if on physical media. Quite bizarre.
  In rest of world it varies but also sucks.
  
  Yup, GOG just has good marketing department and lots of people fall for the DRM-free (but not really) games you own (but not really) campaign.
  
  @Nibodhika @dbat Steam did the exact same thing when it was new when they would say "If Steam ever shuts down, we'll give you perpetual licenses to the games in your game library." Probably around the same time in their existence as GOG hyping DRM-free.
  
  @obsurveyor @Nibodhika from what I have heard, they cannot give licences to Americans, at least. Perhaps to other countries, but they prob never will. I mean if Steam ever was closing down, they wouldn't care.
  
  @Nibodhika It's freaking evil, but in their defence, it's more America's evil than any one business. They have set about systematically reducing freedom for decades.
- With GOG I get an actual license key & terms that state my ownership.
  No, the intellectual property is not transferred to you. You have no clue how copyright works.
  
  For most people that is a distinction without a difference.
  
  For most people that is a distinction without a difference.
  So what's the difference to making a backup of my Steam folder? The games I play have no DRM either.
  
  Nothing at all. Most people are not creating derivative works.
  
  Yes, but the same is also true for Steam, so it's a moot point.
  
  I totally understand your point, but when people talk about "you own nothing" they don't really mean you "own" the content on physical media, they mean it doesn't have DRM that requires an online service. You're technically correct, but your pedantry is making you miss the forest for the trees, basically.
  
  But the same is also true for Steam, so it's a moot point.
  
  Nobody is saying otherwise.
  
  but your pedantry is making you miss the forest for the trees, basically.
  No. People here claim, that just because GOG cannot remote wipe your drive, people buying off GOG have a perpetual right to the games they've bought. But they don't because that's not how copyright works. If a game's license is revoked, to keep playing the game is copyright violation.
  Not only do so many people not grasp basic concepts of copyright, they claim Valve could take away all downloaded games. No, Valve cannot remote wipe my drive either. I can back up my Steam folder. Many games on Steam don't have DRM at all. It's opt-in and the actual Steam documentation outright says not to rely on Steam DRM because "it is easily removed by a motivated attacker." If games rely on crap like Denuvo, 3rd party launchers, or invasive anti-cheat, the publishers are required to clearly state so on the store page in one of those orange boxes. Users can make an informed decision on a per-game basis even with Steam. And those games that ship crap like Denuvo aren't on GOG in the first place.
  So in the end GOG is a store that stretches the truth about game ownership in their marketing and despite all their Witcher and Cyberpunk money, they don't care about users of platforms competing against Windows at all.
  
  People here claim, that just because GOG cannot remote wipe your drive, people buying off GOG have a perpetual right to the games they've bought.
  I think it's pretty clear from context that they mean they have the ability to perpetually play the games because of the lack of DRM, not the right.
  
  Again, the same is true for Steam as well, so it's a moot point.
  
  Nobody is saying otherwise.
  
  This is a thread where someone claimed that you don't own the games on Steam but you do on GOG, this is the comment the person was replying to:
  In case of Steam.
  With GOG I get an actual license key & terms that state my ownership.
  So yes, that's exactly what the person is saying. So the fact that GOG can't remotely wipe your drive is a strawman fallacy, because neither can Steam, and the differences between GOG and Steam is what's being discussed, so anything that is the same has no bearing on the discussion.
  
  GOG is the only big option if you want to own the games you purchase.
  I think it's pretty clear from context that they mean they have the ability to perpetually play the games because of the lack of DRM, not the right.
  
  Again, the same is true for Steam, so that's a moot point when comparing GOG to Steam which is what this thread is about.
  
  No it's not. If Steam goes down you cannot keep playing your games without using a crack to get around the DRM.
  
  I think it’s pretty clear from context that they mean they have the ability to perpetually play the games because of the lack of DRM, not the right.
  Plenty claim it's their right and with much ferocity while as vehemently ignoring that there are plenty of games on GOG that offer reduced content when playing offline (an extensive list was posted by someone). Also, because games on Steam must disclose their use of DRM (and anti-cheat), people can just buy DRM-free games which can be backed up just as well. Goldberg is a drop-in library for games that use Steam APIs. So everything is fine there as well for people who actually make informed buying decisions.

272 comments