Steams new Competitor

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**Asherian Command**

http://www.gog.com/galaxy

GOG GALAXY
Truly gamer friendly, DRM-free online gaming platform.
GOG GALAXY is a fully optional client to install, play and update your games. It also offers online multiplayer, achievements, chat, game-time tracking and more - but it’s up to you which features you want to use.

LIBRARY FEATURES.
Installing & updating made smarter, with you in charge.
One-click install
Prefer convenience? Install any GOG.com game with a single click, and it will forever stay up to date. As soon as the game is installed, it’s ready to play.
Backup copy download
Want to backup your purchases? We get it. For all games, you can download a DRM-free backup installer that you can save to an external disk, drive or cloud.
Offline support
It’s up to you when and how to play your games. GOG Galaxy will always work without an internet connection, and so will your games.
Rollback (soon)
Sometimes game updates break things. Thanks to the built-in Rollback feature, you can restore your game to prior states with just a single click.
Optional auto-updates
Don’t like being forced to update? In GOG Galaxy you can turn off auto-updating for any game and receive notifications when new updates are available.

IN-GAME FEATURES.
Enriching DRM-free games with optional online features.
Multiplayer & matchmaking
GOG Galaxy-powered multiplayer games offer matchmaking and online play. In new and classic games alike, meet other players and make friends... or enemies.
Achievements
Complete challenges laid out by the developers, experience more of the game, win bragging rights or just do it for the sake of your inner completionist.
Game-time tracking & stats
For nearly every GOG game you can now track your play time. Additionally, select GOG Galaxy-powered games will offer extra stats or in-game leaderboards.
Crossplay
Crossplay-enabled games offer online play between GOG and Steam. Because where you buy your games shouldn't prevent you from playing with friends.
Game overlay (soon)
See notifications for new messages, requests or achievements, check on your progress and chat with friends... All that without leaving the game.

Thats only its features I have no other information to offer and I hope this can break Steam's Pseudo monopoly on the games market.

**Co'tor Shas**

Would be nice. I've always liked GoG, and them getting more of a market might push valve to make sure not to anger their community.

I see this only as a good thing, and it might mean cheaper games for me, so I'm fine.

**Blacksails**

Signed up for the beta, waiting for an invite.

Looks good. Always a good idea not to monopolize a certain product and better for everyone to spread the love around. I can certainly get behind Galaxy's stance on DRM.

**thenoobbomb**

Yeah, I signed up yesterday - received the email earlier today. Looks very good so far.

**Overlord Thraka**

Eh. It'd be easier for me to stick with Steam. If they do have a 'older' game that Steam doesn't carry then I might pick it up then

**Sigvatr**

No advantages so far over Steam.

**nomotog**

I have a gog account, but calling it a competitor to steam is a real stretch. Oddly the big problem with gog is the lack of DRM and that means your not going to get a lot of AAA games on the platform. It's basically just Indy games and old old games. (Though when you think about it, it's puts up more of a fight then origin.) You can't really have a true competitor to steam though. Steam is a hassle. All DRM clients are, but I put up with steam because I own over 100 games on it. I won't be lured away until I have 100 games on something else.

Give me a platform that will honor the games I already own on steam and I would think about switching over.

**Melissia**

Steam needs competition, maybe it'll make them get their act together.

**thenoobbomb**

nomotog wrote:

Give me a platform that will honor the games I already own on steam and I would think about switching over.

Which is only possible if Valve will cooperate with that, which it won't - Gabe's belly has to stay nice and massive.

**Asherian Command**

Sigvatr wrote:
No advantages so far over Steam.

So far its in beta.

I hope they get stuff that steam does not have. They will probably get exclusives that steam can't get. It would be a smart decision based on what is happening right now.

**nomotog**

thenoobbomb wrote:
nomotog wrote:

Give me a platform that will honor the games I already own on steam and I would think about switching over.

Which is only possible if Valve will cooperate with that, which it won't - Gabe's belly has to stay nice and massive.

Well steam profiles are public, so there might be something you can do there. The two accounts don't have to stay synced or now that I think about it, they don't have to synced at all. You just need balancing mass of games on this new account to convince you to leave it installed.

**Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl**

On one hand having competition is usually a good thing, on another hand I would not be too keen on having two different programs to manage my games, especially if that means I have to wonder which one I should use every time I want to launch a game.

**CthuluIsSpy**

Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:
On one hand having competition is usually a good thing, on another hand I would not be too keen on having two different programs to manage my games, especially if that means I have to wonder which one I should use every time I want to launch a game.

Then don't.
The GOG client is completely optional.

**Sigvatr**

I don't see this becoming a competition in any way. Why would any publisher make exclusive GOG contracts when they could do the same with Steam, i.e. a much, much more wealthy platform that reaches a much bigger audience.

GOG has always been more of a niche place and I don't see it becoming more than that. Especially with more and more people not even using Steam to buy new games, but rather buy keys for a fraction of the initial price (20ish$).

I don't see how any platform could possibly be a "competitor" for Steam. Even Origin is nothing but a DRM-platform instead of a sales platform and it's backed up by the second-biggest video game publisher.

**Tannhauser42**

GOG certainly still does very well for itself, though. How else can they have convinced so many publishers to let them sell DRM-free versions of their games?

**Wyrmalla**

I wonder how much memory it'll take to run. I just notice that Steam uses as much as an internet browser at times, so perhaps this might be a factor for those using lower end machines (which certainly could run a lot of games GoG has).

**Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl**

CthuluIsSpy wrote:
Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:
On one hand having competition is usually a good thing, on another hand I would not be too keen on having two different programs to manage my games, especially if that means I have to wonder which one I should use every time I want to launch a game.

Then don't.
The GOG client is completely optional.

Yeah but if nobody uses it, it will not really be a competitor in any meaningful way.

**Asherian Command**

Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:
CthuluIsSpy wrote:
Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:
On one hand having competition is usually a good thing, on another hand I would not be too keen on having two different programs to manage my games, especially if that means I have to wonder which one I should use every time I want to launch a game.

Then don't.
The GOG client is completely optional.

Yeah but if nobody uses it, it will not really be a competitor in any meaningful way.

It might be It is too hard to predict what it will do.

GOG might have things that might outrank Steam. For one they will probably have more sales in their first few weeks of launch to be competitive and then possibly a reward program.

**BrookM**

There's something of a reward program in place for non-US users who pay too much for their games.

**Orlanth**

I hate steam and would like to convert away.

Signed up for beta, thanks to Dakka for the heads up.

**thenoobbomb**

BrookM wrote:
There's something of a reward program in place for non-US users who pay too much for their games.

Correct.

What you pay more for a game than US users do, you get back as GOG credit (so if you spend €40,- on a $40,- game, you get some euros to spend as well).

**Asherian Command**

Orlanth wrote:
I hate steam and would like to convert away.

Signed up for beta, thanks to Dakka for the heads up.

Your welcome!

**thenoobbomb**

Alright, I just got in the Beta.

The initial download is 65mb - quite a lot, I guess.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, if you look at the FAQ, there's some interesting things there.

10. Can we edit, modify, or tweak GOG Galaxy?
If you like to tinker, feel free to start building your own features or even entire clients compatible with GOG Galaxy, assuming you can figure things out right now. We won't actively work against attempts to improve the GOG Galaxy experience, although we can't promise not to break anything as we continue to develop our own tools and infrastructure.

11. I have a lot of games installed on my PC already. Will GOG Galaxy detect my games, or will I have to reinstall the entire library?
You can add your installed games to the Client. Games installed with our newer installers (available on the website for a few months now) will be detected automatically, older installations will require you to add the game manually.

**Eumerin**

Steam already has a competing service. Unfortunately, that service is the EA-specific Origin.

**Asherian Command**

Eumerin wrote:
Steam already has a competing service. Unfortunately, that service is the EA-specific Origin.

Which is why no one talks about it

**streamdragon**

It's also not really a competitor, since it doesn't offer many of the features that steam does. Like game specific forums or the review system.

I like GOG, they do good stuff. I just don't see myself switching from Steam any time soon.

**CthuluIsSpy**

That's because most of the features are still offline; its a beta version at the moment.

**Sigvatr**

Origin isn't a competitor to Steam as Origin serves as a DRM whereas Steam is a digital, cross-developer games market.

**nomotog**

Sigvatr wrote:
Origin isn't a competitor to Steam as Origin serves as a DRM whereas Steam is a digital, cross-developer games market.

Steam is DRM. Lets not forget that. Steam was the original online DRM.

**Sigvatr**

nomotog wrote:
Sigvatr wrote:
Origin isn't a competitor to Steam as Origin serves as a DRM whereas Steam is a digital, cross-developer games market.

Steam is DRM. Lets not forget that. Steam was the original online DRM.

Steam's primary purpose isn't DRM. The system is incredibly easy to exploit and Valve is well-aware of it. Steam started off as a pure DRM tool but then became the best invention for master race gamers there ever was.