![GOG](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/GOG.com_old_logo.png)
GOG.com (formerly Good Old Games) is a
digital distribution
Digital distribution, also referred to as content delivery, online distribution, or electronic software distribution, among others, is the delivery or distribution of digital media content (media), content such as Sound recording and reproductio ...
platform for
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s and films. It is operated by GOG
sp. z o.o., a wholly owned subsidiary of
CD Projekt
CD Projekt S.A. () is a Polish video game developer, publisher and distributor based in Warsaw, founded in May 1994 by Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński. Iwiński and Kiciński were video game retailers before they founded the company, whi ...
based in
Warsaw, Poland
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-cen ...
. GOG.com delivers
DRM
DRM may refer to:
Government, military and politics
* Defense reform movement, U.S. campaign inspired by Col. John Boyd
* Democratic Republic of Madagascar, a former socialist state (1975–1992) on Madagascar
* Direction du renseignement militai ...
-free video games through its digital platform for
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
,
macOS
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
and
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
.
History
Launch of Good Old Games
Poland, where
CD Projekt
CD Projekt S.A. () is a Polish video game developer, publisher and distributor based in Warsaw, founded in May 1994 by Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński. Iwiński and Kiciński were video game retailers before they founded the company, whi ...
and Good Old Games were founded, had previously been under
communist rule
A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Comint ...
but in 1989, the old government had fallen in favor of a more
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
government which spurred economic growth. While under Communism, copyright laws in Poland were virtually non-existent and unenforceable, and copyright infringement, in the form of piracy by stripping out any
digital rights management
Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures (TPM) such as access control technologies can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. ...
(DRM), was rampant across electronic media. The consumer perception of copyright in Poland remained the same after the change of government, making it difficult for legitimate sales of electronic media;
pirated and bootlegged versions were sold in open markets next to boxed copies of the legitimate productions for a fraction of the cost.
CD Projekt was founded by Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński in 1994 for the purposes to trying to bring legitimate sales of foreign game titles into Poland, knowing they would have no easy way to compete against
pirated
Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...
copies. They would obtain import rights from foreign publishers, and where possible, provide in-game localization for text and voice lines, typically through
reverse engineering
Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompli ...
to
decompile
A decompiler is a computer program that translates an executable file to a high-level source file which can be recompiled successfully. It does therefore the opposite of a typical compiler, which translates a high-level language to a low-level la ...
the game's code. They would then package the game with localized instruction manuals and other physical goodies, hoping that the added features would draw buyers away from pirated copies.
Their first major success was with ''
Baldur's Gate
''Baldur's Gate'' is a series of role-playing video games set in the Forgotten Realms ''Dungeons & Dragons'' campaign setting. The game has spawned two series, known as the ''Bhaalspawn Saga'' and the ''Dark Alliance'', both taking place mostly ...
'' (1998) with which they had 18,000 units sold on its first day of release in Poland.
Due to this success,
Interplay, the publisher of ''Baldur's Gate'', asked CD Projekt if they could do a similar treatment to ''
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance'', a console title released in 2001. As their past work had been strictly on personal computers, the company accepted to try to port it, but the project fell through before it was completed. However, as a result, CD Projekt realized they had the ability to make their own games, and moved into games development. This eventually proved fruitful, as it ultimately landed the company with rights to ''
The Witcher
''The Witcher'' ( pl, Wiedźmin ) is a series of six fantasy novels and 15 short stories written by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The series revolves around the eponymous "witcher", Geralt of Rivia. In Sapkowski's works, "witchers" are bea ...
'' video game series. The company's interest in game distribution has declined since then.
Digital distribution grew in the 2000s, along with the use of DRM to control access to games, which raised some resentment with players. CD Projekt saw potential to look back at their distribution days to offer DRM-free versions of classic games through digital distribution, using their past experience in reverse engineering to make the games work on modern platforms and provide a wide array of localization options. In this manner, they would have a reason to draw players to buy their product instead of simply downloading it for free from pirate game websites and services.
They founded a new
subsidiary
A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...
, Good Old Games, to serve this purpose in early 2008.
Their first challenge was to find a publisher that would be willing to work with them; they spoke to several who were generally unaware of CD Projekt; their first big break was from
Interplay, who knew of the company's past work, and allowed them to offer their games on the service.
After some time, Good Old Games was approached by
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', '' ...
, who were interested in selling their older titles through the service as well.
Once Ubisoft was signed, it became easier for Good Old Games to convince other publishers to allow them to offer older titles on the service.
Marketing stunt and relaunch
During a period of days from 19 to 22 September 2010, the GOG.com website was disabled, leaving behind messages on the web site and their
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
accounts that the site had been closed. A spokesman for Good Old Games reiterated that the site was not being shut down, and confirmed news would be forthcoming about changes to the service. A clarification posted on the site on 20 September 2010 said they had to shut down the site temporarily "due to business and technical reasons", with industry journalists believing the shutdown may be related to the nature of
DRM
DRM may refer to:
Government, military and politics
* Defense reform movement, U.S. campaign inspired by Col. John Boyd
* Democratic Republic of Madagascar, a former socialist state (1975–1992) on Madagascar
* Direction du renseignement militai ...
-free strategy, based on Twitter messages from the company. On 22 September 2010, GOG.com revealed that this shutdown was a marketing hoax as part of the site coming out of beta.
The site's management, aware of the reactions to the fake closure, stated: "First of all we'd like to apologize to everyone who felt deceived or harmed in any way by the closedown of GOG.com. As a small company we don't have a huge marketing budget and this is why we could not miss a chance to generate some buzz around an event as big as launching a brand new version of our website and even more important, bringing back ''Baldur's Gate'' to life!"
The site returned on 23 September 2010, with an improved storefront and additional benefits, as outlined during a webcast presentation. During the presentation, GOG.com's co-founder Marcin Iwiński and managing director Guillaume Rambourg had dressed as
monk
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
s to atone for their sins. The relaunch of the site was considered by Rambourg to have been successful, having brought new customers that were previously unaware of GOG.com. As promised after its relaunch, GOG.com was able to offer several
Black Isle Studios
Black Isle Studios is a division of the developer and publisher Interplay Entertainment that develops role-playing video games. It has published several games from other developers.
Black Isle is based in Irvine, California. The division was f ...
games such as ''
Baldur's Gate
''Baldur's Gate'' is a series of role-playing video games set in the Forgotten Realms ''Dungeons & Dragons'' campaign setting. The game has spawned two series, known as the ''Bhaalspawn Saga'' and the ''Dark Alliance'', both taking place mostly ...
'', ''
Planescape: Torment'' and ''
Icewind Dale
''Icewind Dale'' is a role-playing video game developed by Black Isle Studios and originally published by Interplay Entertainment for Windows in 2000 and by MacPlay for the Macintosh in 2002 (both the Classic Mac OS and OS X). The game takes pl ...
'' which have previously been unreleased through any download service due to legal issues about the ownership of ''
Dungeons & Dragons
''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...
''-related games between
Atari
Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...
,
Hasbro
Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of ...
, and other companies.
On 27 March 2012, Good Old Games announced that it was branching out to feature "
AAA
AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to:
Airports
* Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA)
* Logan County Airport (Illinois) (FAA airport code AAA)
Arts, entertainment, and me ...
" and
independent titles in addition to older games. The site was rebranded to GOG.com.
OS X and Linux support
In October 2012, GOG.com was announced to be bringing DRM-free games to
OS X
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
. This included the previously Steam exclusive (OS X version) ''The Witcher'' and ''The Witcher 2'', both made by CD Projekt Red. GOG.com gathered user feedback in a community wishlist, and one of the most demanded feature requests was support for native Linux games, which gathered close to 15,000 votes before it was marked as "in progress". Originally GOG.com representatives said, that there are technical and operational issues which make it harder than it seems, however it's something they would love to do, and they have been looking at. On 18 March 2014, GOG.com officially announced that they would be adding support for Linux, initially targeting
Ubuntu
Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed mostly of free and open-source software. Ubuntu is officially released in three editions: ''Desktop'', ''Server'', and ''Core'' for Internet of things devices and robots. All the ...
and
Linux Mint
Linux Mint is a community-driven Linux distribution based on Ubuntu (which is in turn based on Debian), bundled with a variety of free and open-source applications. It can provide full out-of-the-box multimedia support for those who choose to i ...
in the fall of 2014. On 25 July 2014, Linux support was released early, and 50 games were released compatible with the operating system. Several of the launch titles included games that were newly compatible with Linux, while most of the games already supported downloads made for the operating system on other distribution platforms.
Expansion to DRM-free video
On 27 August 2014 GOG.com announced the launch of the new addition to their service – distribution of DRM-free films. GOG.com offers DRM-free downloading in
mp4 format and streaming of video in standard and DRM-free HTML fashion which doesn't bind users to any specific platforms or devices. The movies are made available in Full HD 1080p, 720p and 576p for limited bandwidth or download quotas; however, a few titles do not have the Full HD 1080p format available. GOG.com started by adding 21 documentaries about Internet culture and gaming. They also have plans for adding fiction films and series; according to GOG.com's managing director Guillaume Rambourg, they were in talks with many major studios. While studios' representatives liked the idea, they also were reluctant to let go of their current DRM approach until some other major studio would make the first step. Still GOG.com plan to work on overcoming the initial reluctance and moving DRM-free video forward.
Policies
On 9 December 2013, GOG.com introduced a
money-back guarantee
A money-back guarantee, also known as a satisfaction guarantee, is essentially a simple guarantee that, if a buyer is not satisfied with a product or service, a refund will be made.
The 18th century entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood pioneered many of ...
for the first 30 days if a customer faces unresolvable technical problems with a bought game.
On 26 February 2020, GOG extended this policy to offer a full refund up to 30 days after purchasing a product, even if it was downloaded, launched, and played.
Beginning 2 April 2015, GOG.com began to offer DRM-free downloads to holders of game keys from boxed copies of select games whose DRM validation systems no longer operate; examples are the ''
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
''S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'' is a first-person-shooter survival horror video game series developed by GSC Game World. The series is set in an alternate version of the present-day Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine, where, according to the series' backs ...
'' series and the ''
Master of Orion
''Master of Orion'' (abbreviated as MoO) is a turn-based, 4X science fiction strategy game in which the player leads one of ten races to dominate the galaxy through a combination of diplomacy and conquest while developing technology, exploring a ...
'' series. Over $1,700,000 of retail game purchases had been redeemed through this system by November 2017.
FCK DRM Initiative
In August 2018, GOG created an anti-
digital rights management
Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures (TPM) such as access control technologies can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. ...
program called "FCK DRM". The homepage of the initiative offers links to the websites of
Defective by Design
Defective by Design (DBD) is an anti-DRM initiative by the Free Software Foundation. Digital rights management (DRM) technology restricts users' ability to freely use their purchased movies, music, literature, software, and hardware in ways the ...
, the
EFF
EFF or eff may refer to:
Politics
* Economic Freedom Fighters, a South African communist political party
* Economic Freedom Fund, an American political organization
* Election Fighting Fund, a British suffragist organization supporting the ear ...
,
Bandcamp
Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...
,
itch.io,
Wikisource
Wikisource is an online digital library of free-content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole and the name for each instance of that project (each instance usually rep ...
,
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a Virtual volunteering, volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."
It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the ...
and other projects that promote
free culture
The free-culture movement is a social movement that promotes the freedom to distribute and modify the creative works of others in the form of free content or Free content, open content without compensation to, or the consent of, the work's origin ...
.
Layoffs and end of the Fair Price Package
In February 2019, GOG announced layoffs and the end of its Fair Price Package program. When a game was purchased in a region with higher prices than most others, this program would provide the purchaser with store credit equal to the difference in price.
Some insider sources in GOG told
Kotaku
''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier.
History
...
that GOG was "dangerously close to being in the red" and that the market's move toward higher developer revenue shares would affect the company's profitability.
Collaboration with Nvidia
On 19 November 2020, Nvidia and GOG announced a collaboration that allows GOG.com users to launch ''
Cyberpunk 2077
''Cyberpunk 2077'' is a 2020 action role-playing video game developed by CD Projekt Red and published by CD Projekt. Set in Night City, an open world set in the ''Cyberpunk'' universe, players assume the role of a customisable mercenary know ...
'' through the cloud gaming service
GeForce Now
GeForce Now (stylized as GeForce NOW) is the brand used by Nvidia for its cloud gaming service. The Nvidia Shield version of GeForce Now, formerly known as Nvidia Grid, launched in Software release life cycle, beta in 2013, with Nvidia official ...
. Both companies announced they also expect to support ''
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt'' in the future and that they "have more news coming soon".
Approach
GOG.com works to offer older games as well as new releases to users, with the product lacking any type of
digital rights management
Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures (TPM) such as access control technologies can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. ...
to give consumers the ability to install the game anywhere and as many times as they want.
Prior to any development work to bring an older game for use on modern computers, legal experts within GOG.com need to track down all ownership rights to games and make sure that all necessary parties agree to their redistribution. This can be difficult for many games of the late 1990s and early 2000s, where very few publishers and developers kept digital records of their legal documentation, and there were large numbers of acquisitions and dissolutions that make tracking down rights difficult and take years to complete. One difficult case was acquiring the rights for the
Strategic Simulations
Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) was a video game developer and video game publisher, publisher with over 100 titles to its credit from its founding in 1979 to its dissolution in 1994. The company was especially noted for its numerous wargames ...
"
Gold Box Gold box may refer to:
*Decorative boxes made in gold
*''Gold Box Gold box may refer to:
* Decorative boxes made in gold
*'' Gold Box'', a series of video games of 1988 to 1992
* Gold box (phreaking), a phreaking box to create a bridge between two ...
" series games, due to the number of acquisitions that Strategic Simulations went through since the 1990s.
GOG.com offers users a means to request back-catalog games they would like to see, and the company uses this list to identify games that may require more extensive licensing research. Some of this work has been done in coordination with
Nightdive Studios
Night Dive Studios, Inc. (doing business as Nightdive Studios) is an American video game developer based in Vancouver, Washington. The company was founded in November 2012 by Stephen and Alix Kick, former video game artists for Sony Online Ent ...
, who were able to find and acquire the rights to ''
System Shock 2
''System Shock 2'' is a 1999 action role-playing survival horror video game designed by Ken Levine and co-developed by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios. Originally intended to be a standalone title, its story was changed during product ...
'', one of the most requested games at GOG.com for years, and have since found and relicensed other older games thought lost to licensing issues.
In order to ensure
compatibility with newer versions of
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
s and current PC hardware, games are
pre-patched and restored by GOG.com. Whenever possible, GOG.com attempts to acquire the game's original
source code
In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the wo ...
, which can prove as difficult as determining the legal rights to games.
From this, they can work to make the game compatible with modern and future hardware, directly apply
compatibility fixes, and sometimes incorporate well-established
community-made patches from a game's fan-community.
They also will seek external help with some of the code issues, approaching developers that may have previously worked on the title for assistance. They may also need to
reverse engineer
Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompli ...
the game's code if it is not available.
In cases where it is impossible to recode the game, they will instead package the game with
open-source
Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...
emulation
Emulation may refer to:
*Emulation (computing), imitation of behavior of a computer or other electronic system with the help of another type of system
:*Video game console emulator, software which emulates video game consoles
*Gaussian process em ...
or compatibility software, such as
ScummVM
Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion Virtual Machine (ScummVM) is a set of game engine recreations. Originally designed to play LucasArts adventure games that use the SCUMM system, it also supports a variety of non-SCUMM games by companies ...
and
DOSBox
DOSBox is a free and open-source emulator which runs software for MS-DOS compatible disk operating systems—primarily video games. It was first released in 2002, when DOS technology was becoming obsolete. Its adoption for running DOS games i ...
For newer titles, particularly for
indie games
An indie game, short for independent video game, is a video game typically created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A) games. ...
, GOG.com offers the ability to publish their games on the site starting 2013. GOG.com offers indie developers a typical 70/30 split on revenue (meaning GOG.com takes 30% of the sale), as well as an option for an upfront payment to the developer, with GOG.com then taking 40% of the sales until the upfront payment has been covered, reverting the cost back to 30%. Such games are still distributed DRM-free.
Publishing agreements
On 26 March 2009, GOG.com announced it had signed a deal with
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', '' ...
to publish games from their back catalogue; this was the first deal with a major publisher to offer DRM-free downloads. The deal to publish through GOG.com also included games that were not available through any other online distribution channel.
On 5 September 2014, GOG.com started to sell
Amiga
Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...
games from
Cinemaware
Cinemaware was a video game developer and publisher that released several titles in the 1980s based on various film themes. The company was resurrected in 2000, before being acquired by eGames in 2005.
Cinemaware Corp. (1986–1991)
The comp ...
's catalogue, starting with
Defender of the Crown
''Defender of the Crown'' is a strategy computer game designed by Kellyn Beck. It was Cinemaware's first game, and was originally released for the Commodore Amiga in 1986, setting a new standard for graphic quality in home computer games.
In ...
.
This was technically made possible through Cinemaware's own written
emulator
In computing, an emulator is Computer hardware, hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run so ...
called "Rocklobster".
On 28 October 2014, GOG.com was able to secure another major publisher as a DRM-free partner,
Disney Interactive
Disney Interactive is an American video game and internet company that oversaw various websites and interactive media owned by The Walt Disney Company.
History
1995–1996: Formation and beginnings
In December 1994, Disney announced that it wa ...
/
LucasArts
Lucasfilm Games (known as LucasArts between 1990 and 2021) is an American video game brand licensing, licensor that is part of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George Lucas as a video game development group alongside his film company; as ...
. With this new partnership, GOG.com began to re-release several often-requested game titles from LucasArts,
starting with six titles (''
Star Wars: X-Wing'', ''
Star Wars: TIE Fighter'', ''
Sam & Max Hit the Road
''Sam & Max Hit the Road'' is a graphic adventure video game released by LucasArts during the company's LucasArts adventure games, adventure games era. The game was originally released for MS-DOS in 1993 and for Mac OS in 1995. A 2002 re-release ...
'', ''
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition'', ''
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
''Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis'' is a point-and-click adventure game developed and published by LucasArts and originally released on June 1, 1992 for Amiga, DOS and Macintosh. Almost a year later, it was reissued on CD-ROM as an enhance ...
'' and ''
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic'').
On 5 May 2015, GOG.com released ''
Pacific General
''Pacific General'' is a computer wargame depicting famous battles of the World War II Pacific campaigns. It was published by Strategic Simulations in 1997 using the same game engine of the earlier and successful ''Panzer General ''for Windows 95. ...
'' and ''
Fantasy General'' and named itself, GOG Ltd, as the publisher. The company revealed that it had acquired the copyright to these titles and that it intends to acquire more in the future.
On 26 August 2015,
Bethesda Softworks
Bethesda Softworks LLC is an American video game publisher based in Rockville, Maryland. The company was founded by Christopher Weaver in 1986 as a division of Media Technology Limited, and in 1999 became a subsidiary of ZeniMax Media. In its ...
joined GOG.com with classic titles as
id Software
id Software LLC () is an American video game developer based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and ar ...
's ''
Doom
Doom is another name for damnation.
Doom may also refer to:
People
* Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed
* Daniel Doom (born 1934), Belgian cyclist
* Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitcher
* L ...
'' and ''
Quake'', ''
Fallout
Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioac ...
'' (which had been sold on GOG by
Interplay before the rights changed hands), and also some classic ''
Elder Scrolls
''The Elder Scrolls'' is a series of action role-playing video games primarily developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The series focuses on free-form gameplay in an open world. ''Morrowind'', ''The Elder Scr ...
'' titles.
In March 2019,
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the company was founded on February 8, 1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse, Inc. by three graduat ...
joined GOG.com with classic titles ''
Diablo'', ''
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans'' and ''
Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition'', with ''
Diablo: Hellfire'' joining later on 5 June 2019.
On 25 September 2020, GOG.com announced the comeback of three Metal Gear titles (
Metal Gear
is a series of techno-thriller stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces operativ ...
,
Metal Gear Solid
is a series of techno-thriller stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces operat ...
and
Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance) as well as the Konami Collector's Series: Castlevania & Contra from KONAMI.
On 8 September 2021, GOG brought 6 classic
Star Trek titles back and updated them to work on modern operating systems.
According to the Management Board report on the activities of the CD PROJEKT Group in 1H 2021, the GOG.com catalog of products as of 1 September 2021 numbers over 5200 items.
However, the business expansion didn't bring enough revenues to cover the rising costs - between January 2021 and September 2021, GOG lost $1.14 million. Due to poor financial performance GOG.com management announced the plan to scale down, focusing on "a handpicked selection of games" and moving staff to other projects within CD Projekt.
Features
The offered
digital goods
Digital goods or e-goods are intangible goods that exist in Digital data, digital form. Examples are Wikipedia articles; digital media, such as e-books, music download, downloadable music, internet radio, internet television and streaming media; fo ...
(
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s and
movie
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
s) can be purchased and
downloaded online and they are distributed without
digital rights management
Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures (TPM) such as access control technologies can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. ...
.
The prices of products typically range from about $5 to $10 for older games, along with special offers in sales held several times a week. Some newer titles have a higher price. GOG.com's digital products can also be given to other persons via redeemable gift certificates.
The user does not have to
install special
client software
In computing, a client is a piece of computer hardware or software that accesses a service made available by a server as part of the client–server model of computer networks. The server is often (but not always) on another computer system, in ...
to download or run the games,
although a
download manager
A download manager is a software tool that manages the downloading of files from the Internet, which may be built: into a Web browser, or as a, usually more sophisticated program
Program, programme, programmer, or programming may refer to:
Bu ...
, which is due to be phased out,
and the GOG Galaxy client, which is currently in beta, are available. After downloading, the customer is free to use the software for any personal use like installing on multiple devices, archiving on any personal
storage media
Data storage is the recording (storing) of information (data) in a storage medium. Handwriting, phonographic recording, magnetic tape, and optical discs are all examples of storage media. Biological molecules such as RNA and DNA are consi ...
for unlimited time,
modding
''Modding'' is a slang expression derived from the English verb " to modify". The term refers to modification of hardware, software, or anything else, to perform a function not originally intended by the designer, or to achieve bespoke specific ...
and patching; with the restriction that reselling and sharing is not permitted.
The software
installer
Installation (or setup) of a computer program (including device drivers and plugins), is the act of making the program ready for execution. Installation refers to the particular configuration of a software or hardware with a view to making it us ...
s are technically independent of the customer's GOG.com account, although still subject to GOG.com's
EULA
An end-user license agreement or EULA () is a legal contract between a software supplier and a customer or end-user, generally made available to the customer via a retailer acting as an intermediary. A EULA specifies in detail the rights and restr ...
, where a "licensed, not sold" formulation is used.
[Academia.edu](_blank)
/ref> The "licensed, not sold" model frequently raises questions of ownership of digital goods. In the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
, the European Court of Justice
The European Court of Justice (ECJ, french: Cour de Justice européenne), formally just the Court of Justice, is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Un ...
held that a copyright holder cannot oppose the resale of a digitally sold software, in accordance with the rule of copyright exhaustion on first sale
The first-sale doctrine (also sometimes referred to as the "right of first sale" or the "first sale rule") is an American legal concept that limits the rights of an intellectual property owner to control resale of products embodying its intellec ...
as ownership is transferred, and questions therefore the "licensed, not sold" EULA.
Along with the games, customers are also able to download numerous extra materials relating to the game they purchased. Often these extras include the game's soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
(partly as FLAC
FLAC (; Free Lossless Audio Codec) is an audio coding format for lossless compression of digital audio, developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation, and is also the name of the free software project producing the FLAC tools, the reference software p ...
), wallpapers
Wallpaper is a material used in interior decoration to decorate the interior walls of domestic and public buildings. It is usually sold in rolls and is applied onto a wall using wallpaper paste. Wallpapers can come plain as "lining paper" (so ...
, avatars
Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance ...
, and manuals. GOG.com also offers full customer support
Customer support is a range of services to assist customers in making cost effective and correct use of a product. It includes assistance in planning, installation, training, troubleshooting, maintenance, upgrading, and disposal of a product. Reg ...
for all purchases and a money-back guarantee
A money-back guarantee, also known as a satisfaction guarantee, is essentially a simple guarantee that, if a buyer is not satisfied with a product or service, a refund will be made.
The 18th century entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood pioneered many of ...
for the first 30 days.
Promotions are organized regularly. The style of these promotions varies from a discount for products that are bought in bundles, to thematic competitions like riddles, "guess a game from a picture" contests or "best time on a specific level". Also, GOG.com gives away promotion codes for a game with review contests.
GOG Galaxy
In the CD Projekt Red
CD Projekt S.A. () is a Polish video game developer, publisher and distributor based in Warsaw, founded in May 1994 by Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński. Iwiński and Kiciński were video game retailers before they founded the company, whi ...
company update in June 2014, GOG.com announced that it would be bringing a Steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
-like client, GOG Galaxy, to Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms. The client is designed as a storefront, software delivery, and social network client, allowing players to buy and play games from GOG.com and share them with friends. GOG Galaxy also includes an original multiplayer API, allowing developers to include the same kind of multiplayer functionality in GOG.com versions of games as on Steam. The client is optional and retains the DRM-free objective of the GOG.com website. On 15 October 2014 the open multiplayer beta of the GOG Galaxy client was started, accompanied by the giveaway of '' Alien vs Predator''. In July 2015 the GOG Galaxy beta client was reviewed favorably by the ''PC Gamer
''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ma ...
'' magazine, especially noting the focus on user respect in comparison to Steam. On 22 March 2017, the client added in cloud saves for 29 games from its catalog. GOG Galaxy is currently available for Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
and macOS
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
, with a Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
version formerly marked as planned on the Galaxy subpage but stated to not be a priority. As of the Galaxy 2.0 revamp of the subpage, any mention of future Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
support has been removed from the FAQ.
In May 2019, GOG announced plans for GOG Galaxy 2.0, which it aims to be a unified game launcher not only for GOG titles, but from other services such as Steam, Origin, UPlay, Epic Games Store, and including console systems through Xbox and PlayStation networks. It has an open API, so users can also create additional plug-ins for it. At E3 2019
The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2019 (E3 2019) was the 25th E3, during which hardware manufacturers, software developers, and publishers from the video game industry presented new and upcoming products to the attendees, primarily retailers a ...
, GOG affirmed that Microsoft was an official partner, which will allow GOG Galaxy 2.0 to have strong incorporation with Xbox and Xbox Game Pass
Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass are video game subscription services from Microsoft. Both services grant users access to a rotating catalog of games from a range of publishers and other premium services, including Xbox Live Gold and EA Play, for ...
titles. The new client entered a closed beta period in June 2019, and open beta in December 2019.
On 20 July 2020, GOG announced official integration with the Epic Games Store for GOG Galaxy 2.0.
GOG Connect
Revealed in June 2016, GOG Connect enables users with both GOG.com and Steam accounts to claim certain games they already own on Steam as part of their GOG.com library, allowing them to download the DRM-free version and other bonus items for that game offered by GOG.com. Not all such games are part of this offer, as it requires GOG.com to work with the game publishers to enable this. Further, the time to claim such games will be limited, though once a user has claimed their game on GOG.com, it otherwise remains in their library indefinitely.
Market share
As GOG.com does not typically release absolute game selling numbers, market share considerations of GOG.com among the digital distributors are a challenge. But, sometimes an individual game developer releases their internal statistics about the selling performance on different game distribution channels for their specific game.
In an article dated 11 November 2011, ''PC Gamer
''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ma ...
'' reported statistics for online sales of ''The Witcher 2
''The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings'' ( pl, Wiedźmin 2: Zabójcy królów) is a 2011 action role-playing video game developed by CD Projekt Red, based on ''The Witcher'' series of fantasy novels by Andrzej Sapkowski. It is the sequel to the 20 ...
''. According to PC Gamer: Direct2Drive
Direct2Drive (commonly D2D) is an online game store offering PC games via direct download.
On May 25, 2011, GameFly acquired Direct2Drive from IGN Entertainment, Inc. and renamed the service to GameFly Digital.[Impulse
Impulse or Impulsive may refer to:
Science
* Impulse (physics), in mechanics, the change of momentum of an object; the integral of a force with respect to time
* Impulse noise (disambiguation)
* Specific impulse, the change in momentum per uni ...]
and GamersGate
GamersGate AB (formerly Gamer's Gate) is a Sweden-based online video game store offering electronic strategy guides and games for Windows, macOS, and Linux via direct download. It is a competitor to online video game services such as Steam, GOG ...
's combined sales were a total of 10,000 (4%), GOG.com sold 40,000 copies (16%), while Steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
sold in the same time period 200,000 copies (80%).
On 20 February 2013, ''Defender's Quest'' developer Lars Doucet revealed the first three months of revenue
In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business.
Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive reven ...
following his game's release across 6 different digital distribution platforms, including 4 major digital game distributors and 2 methods of purchasing and downloading the game directly from the developer. The results showed that GOG.com generated 8.5% of the revenue – second only to Steam's 58.6% among the digital distribution platforms used. Doucet noted that "for the major igital game distributors GOG's star is clearly rising. Even under direct competition, GOG generated 14.5 percent as much revenue as Steam. ..Steam enjoys a captive market of ardent loyalists, but GOG is swiftly becoming an attractive alternative and gaining loyalists of its own, especially in the anti-DRM crowd."
, GOG.com had seen 690,000 units of CD Projekt Red's game '' The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt'' redeemed through the service, more than the second largest digital seller Steam (approx. 580,000 units) and all other PC digital distribution services combined.
At the beginning of 2021, it was announced that GOG.com was responsible for around 10% of the total PC sales of Cyberpunk 2077
''Cyberpunk 2077'' is a 2020 action role-playing video game developed by CD Projekt Red and published by CD Projekt. Set in Night City, an open world set in the ''Cyberpunk'' universe, players assume the role of a customisable mercenary know ...
. In terms of pre-orders, GOG.com accounted for one-third of early PC pre-orders.
Controversy
Issues over release of ''Devotion''
''Devotion
Devotion or Devotions may refer to:
Religion
* Faith, confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept
* Anglican devotions, private prayers and practices used by Anglican Christians
* Buddhist devotion, commitment to religious observance
* Cat ...
'' from the Taiwanese studio Red Candle Games
Red Candle Games Co., Ltd. () is a Taiwanese independent video game development studio based in Taipei, Taiwan. The company is most known for developing '' Detention'' and '' Devotion''.
History
Red Candle Games was founded on September 1, 2015, ...
had previously been removed from digital storefronts in early 2019 after it was found the game included content critical of Xi Jinping
Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, s ...
, the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...
and faced numerous complaints from Chinese gamers. Red Candle Games apologized and stated they would remove the content, but had not been able to bring the game back. In December, Red Candle and GOG had announced that GOG would offer ''Devotion'' later that month, but within a few hours of the announcement, GOG reversed its decision, stating that they reconsidered this "after receiving many messages from gamers". The move was met with criticism and accusations of censorship.
''Hitman'' (2016) release
On 17 September 2021, Game of the Year edition of ''Hitman'' was released on the storefront, which was met with a big backlash from store's users, as the game, while could be played offline, still required an online connection to have most of its content, e.g. rankings, unlocked, even though the game's page stated that no activation or online connection was required. GOG later issued a statement saying that they "will not tolerate review-bombing and will be removing posts that do not follow our review-guidelines", which was also met with a negative feedback. As a result, the game had a rating of 1.4 stars out of 5 possible, making it the lowest rated game in GOG and the lowest rated entry in the series
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
. On 8 October, the game was removed, followed by the announcement from staff team, saying that they "shouldn't have released it in its current form".
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Internet properties established in 2008
Online-only retailers of video games
Online retailers of Poland
Video game publishers
English-language websites