You may soon buy games from other Stores in the Gog Galaxy client
Gog announced the launch of a private beta feature in the company's Gog Galaxy software yesterday that integrates third-party store game purchases directly in the client.
Computer users have access to a large number of game stores, some more popular than others. There is not a single store that offers all games available to Windows users (or Mac / Linux), and users need to install different clients to play these games on their devices.
Steam may be the most popular platform, but there are at least a good dozen game stores available that offer unique games to users that are not available on Steam.
The Gog platform was designed differently from the get-go, and when the company launched its Gog Galaxy client, it was clear that the client was different to the majority of other game clients out there.
Apart from being completely optional, it supported interesting features such as rollbacks, digital downloads of handbooks and other items / files, and a completely DRM-free experience.
Gog introduced options to integrate other gaming clients in Gog Galaxy in 2019; users could integrate platforms such as Steam or the Epic Games Store in the Gog Galaxy client to manage games from these stores from within the client. While the integration lacked some features, it did support the launching of games from the Gog client. It is still necessary to have the other clients installed on the system to launch games though, as these programs are required to play games purchased on these stores.
Yesterday, Gog revealed another feature that improves the integration of third-party game stores: the ability to purchase games from integrated stores. Launched as a private beta, the feature is limited to the Epic Games Store and some titles offered on the store currently.
Gog notes that users may buy titles on these store that are exclusive to it, and while the selection of titles appears limited, Gog promises that purchases are covered by the company's 30-days refund policy and around-the-clock human support.
In the new store, we will be welcoming games from both GOG.COM and beyond - including titles previously exclusive only to other gaming platforms. With the internal beta launching today, invited users will have the option to buy games from a selection of hand-picked Epic Games Store exclusive titles, alongside all GOG.COM games.
It is unclear at this point if Gog plans to integrate other stores in the future, or extend the purchases to more titles or even all titles from particular stores.
Closing Words
Gog revealed that direct purchases on integrated stores were one of the most requested features. While users can already buy these games in the respective stores and have the games integrated with the Gog Galaxy client, direct integration, and especially the 30-day refund policy, may convince some users to use the Gog Galaxy client for these purchases instead.
Gog did not mention if it entered a revenue share agreement with the Epic Store.
Now You: do you use game clients on your devices?
I’m into playing hoops at the park
Nice GOG.
GOG is saving us from game store fragmentation with Galaxy and Google from video streaming services fragmentation with Google TV.
Have they finally patched the vulnerability which allowed attackers to elevate to system if galaxy was installed?
https://www.positronsecurity.com/blog/2020-08-13-gog-galaxy_client-local-privilege-escalation_deuce/
previously they weren’t entirely honest and told the researcher they have patched to vulnerability when they have only obscured it.
Have they had the good sense to at least want people about this issue?
Just like the current multiple video streaming platforms, each hoarding thier own properties and driven by greed instead of a desire to see the actual product reach consumers in a convenient manner, multiple gaming platforms drives piracy.
GOG is a niche provider. They should stick to doing what they are good at, selling “old” games that would not run on new PC’s without the modifications they do to them.
On top of that, Steam, Epic, and the like are just personal info harvesters and are not actually needed to run the games.
I don’t know if it’s completely comparable to streaming services. At least with these gaming platforms, you don’t have to pay extra money just to install the additional clients. The only sacrifice you make is having an extra shortcut on your desktop and a few MB on your hard drive.
This will upset some users but I’m glad the Epic Game Store exists. I don’t like exclusivity on these platforms, but since it’s the reality we live in and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon, I’d rather have someone like Epic come along and give Steam some competition. Some people revile Epic so much anytime they get their hands on an exclusive while they’ve been completely ok with Steam getting away with it for years.
@Ryan F
The ‘sacrifice’ you make is your privacy. You’ve never read the EULA for those launchers have you?
At least GOG doesn’t ‘require’ you to install a launcher AKA “Personal Data Harvester”.
I do like the competition, I just don’t want to see GOG follow the path Steam forged and Epic has followed.
The O in GOG has not mean Old for a while. Yes, they still sell old games, but they also sell some new games without DRM.
They sell their own CD Projekt games (The Witcher series and coming soon Cyberpunk 2077) in the store.
What a wonderful feature! Nowadays we are facing the issue where every company wants to set its own store, making store fragmentation a real nightmare, as we are suffering nowadays with the VOD fragmentation (especially between Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video). It’s great to know that GOG is primarily worried about their userbase and not only the earnings.
Regarding GOG+Epic, sounds like they have made a real agreement. After all, wasn’t it Epic intentions to end with store monopolies the big scope?
It’s a good store, but they need to update the UI to be more readable, some elements are pitch black, they should take inspiration from Steam or their own website…
Replying Allwynd, I think 1.x versions of the GOG Galaxy client were great. 2.0 is way too dark for me, so I roll backed it in the meantime. Too much black is horrible, a lookback to the appalling Windows Vista dark glass design days.
Vista was nice as it had readability – objects had borders, gradients, gloss, the GOG 2.0 client is flat and it’s hard to distinguish where one element ends and another one begins.