GOG - Galaxy 2.0: Unite all Game Launchers

Isn't Discord already doing this?
This moves us yet one step closer to Singularity.

JDR13 said:

I like how you only quoted part of my post there.

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I also took your name out of the quote.
Just wanted the relevant portion to my point. Wasn't an attack on an individual, just a statement overall.

It could be good if they can pull it off. My biggest problem with multiple launchers is keeping track of all my games, especially my huge backlog. I've overcome the problem by saving the desktop icons to my desktop without having the games installed. It works for me.

I'm just not gonna support every random greedy publisher that wants to force malware into my computer to control and limit how I play a videogame I paid full price for. They are the ones selling their product to me, so either they catter to my needs and demands, or they don't get sales, that's how it works.

And of course, Steam is as much of a cancer as all others, but at least they support about every release, they have a very user-friendly refund policy (basically: you don't like the game and you've played less than 2 hours, you get your money back, no questions asked), with very nice social features that work only because everyone uses it and for better or for worse, it's now a kinda necessary cancer. EA, Ubisoft, Epic etc, I'm sorry, but they're 15 years late to the party. I don't have enough hours of life left to play all the games that I would potentially enjoy playing only from Steam, so I'm gonna make my statement. I know I'm not alone either, feeding those vultures will only make gaming even more miserable than it has become lately. Now someone will say "Omg but Epic is not the same as EA!". Well give them time. I don't care either way, I don't want any additional malware in my computer, Steam is the cap and I'm not going above.

And consoles are definitely included, I haven't even considered getting one since PS2 (and that was because it was gifted to me and I rode the hype of it, I was a much younger person then). Besides, why would I want to play games with dumbed down controls on a subpar computer hidden in a box with a logo, capped framerates, eternal loading times… and pay more for that than for the same game in PC? Console exclusives? Same thing. I don't need them, I have thousands of hours of great PC games queued up waiting to be played.

Calling Epic, Origin, Steam, etc "malware" is just obviously wrong, and ruins whatever point you're trying to make. They're legit software. God forbid you have to install software on your PC, I guess.

Does that mean that Only GOG 2.0 will run in background and when I launch, say, a game from my Steam library, Steam itself won't launch? That would be great.

Ivanwah said:

Does that mean that Only GOG 2.0 will run in background and when I launch, say, a game from my Steam library, Steam itself won't launch? That would be great.

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I don't think so. I suspect we're a long way yet from companies unifying their DRM in that way. As I understand it, you still have all the clients, and they are launched as needed by Galaxy. Pretty much the same as some of the game organiser software already available.

Ripper said:

I don't think so. I suspect we're a long way yet from companies unifying their DRM in that way. As I understand it, you still have all the clients, and they are launched as needed by Galaxy. Pretty much the same as some of the game organiser software already available.

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So essentially one more running in the background. Not for me then. I thought that games on Steam with their own launchers were the height of insanity, but I was wrong. Now we will have GOG which will launch Steam which will launch Uplay just to play one freaking game. That's easily 500-600 MB of RAM wasted.

Ivanwah said:

So essentially one more running in the background. Not for me then. I thought that games on Steam with their own launchers were the height of insanity, but I was wrong. Now we will have GOG which will launch Steam which will launch Uplay just to play one freaking game. That's easily 500-600 MB of RAM wasted.

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Yeah, my view is that the platform holders need to get together, and create a shared, interoperable licensing database. Then they're all free to run their own stores (a good thing, IMO), and we could choose whichever single client we preferred, to manage our entire library.

Stingray said:

Calling Epic, Origin, Steam, etc "malware" is just obviously wrong, and ruins whatever point you're trying to make. They're legit software. God forbid you have to install software on your PC, I guess.

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You have your opinion on what malware is. I have mine.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...-to-fix-game-launcher-after-privacy-concerns/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanwh...eptable-fortnite-malware-risks/#558f03e4508c/
https://i.imgur.com/IRjCX3I.png

Ripper said:

Yeah, my view is that the platform holders need to get together, and create a shared, interoperable licensing database. Then they're all free to run their own stores (a good thing, IMO), and we could choose whichever single client we preferred, to manage our entire library.

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I mean, that *sounds* really nice, but also both highly unlikely and a logistical/programming nightmare. Also, the client would probably be an even bigger pile of garbage than Steam's interface. (I like Steam fine, but their client is total crap)

Obviously if that was the only issue it would be a non-issue. This has been clearly explained numerous times yet you seem to not get it. That's fine but please don't keep spreading false information.

JDR13 said:

Oh no!! You mean I have to take an additional few seconds and click on a different icon on my desktop?!?

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Like the writer of this article, I also forgot I own Forza Horizon 4. Just remembered last night.

My biggest issue with some of these non-steam clients is longevity. Steam isn't going anywhere. I don't know if I can say the same for Origin/uPlay/etc.

What if at some point EA or Ubisoft say "we're not getting enough people to use our client - we're shutting down"? With GOG at least - they're DRM free (I actually download the DRM free copy and make a backup even if I run/install via GOG Galaxy most of the time). Steam is the 800 pound gorilla - I can't see it going away. These others? Who knows.

I only have the games in Origin that I couldn't get elsewhere (mostly Dragon Age/Mass Effect). Uplay only has Heroes 6 & Might and Magic X for me. I don't have anything on Epic since their exclusives are timed (and I always have enough of a backlog that I wait for sales anyway before buying).

skally_wag said:

It could be good if they can pull it off. My biggest problem with multiple launchers is keeping track of all my games, especially my huge backlog. I've overcome the problem by saving the desktop icons to my desktop without having the games installed. It works for me.

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I recently installed playnite and I is an open source solution to collecting all the games from different launchers. It's quite alright.

Caidh said:

My biggest issue with some of these non-steam clients is longevity. Steam isn't going anywhere. I don't know if I can say the same for Origin/uPlay/etc.

What if at some point EA or Ubisoft say "we're not getting enough people to use our client - we're shutting down"? With GOG at least - they're DRM free (I actually download the DRM free copy and make a backup even if I run/install via GOG Galaxy most of the time). Steam is the 800 pound gorilla - I can't see it going away. These others? Who knows.

I only have the games in Origin that I couldn't get elsewhere (mostly Dragon Age/Mass Effect). Uplay only has Heroes 6 & Might and Magic X for me. I don't have anything on Epic since their exclusives are timed (and I always have enough of a backlog that I wait for sales anyway before buying).

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The big ones are probably gonna stick around. They probably make loads of money through them, since they get all the money and can monetize however they like.

The smaller ones, maybe not. Impulse (Stardocks store) got sold and then I lost some games, so there are some risks.

JDR13 said:

Still, it's an inconvenience at worst.

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Well, this is where I think you're wrong. It might be just an inconvenience to you but for others, there might be reasons that move it beyond that. I, for one, am careful about limiting where I sign up and share personal information and purchases online (I work close to industries involving personal data and see much of what goes on in that world). So I limit accounts and ecommerce transactions when I can. Epic has made some missteps in this area and Steam, historically, hasn't been too bad in this area - certainly quite good compared to other large user-based platforms.

Caidh said:

My biggest issue with some of these non-steam clients is longevity. Steam isn't going anywhere.

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And this is a second significant reason for me too... no track record yet for Epic. Who knows what the future holds for the platform and purchases made there.

Capt. Huggy Face said:

Like the writer of this article, I also forgot I own Forza Horizon 4. Just remembered last night.

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Yeah, I've bought a few games two times due to forgetting I already have it somewhere else. I use playnite now and always check if I got the game somewhere before I buy a game during a sale.

SSIGuy said:

Well, this is where I think you're wrong. It might be just an inconvenience to you but for others, there might be reasons that move it beyond that. I, for one, am careful about limiting where I sign up and share personal information and purchases online (I work close to industries involving personal data and see much of what goes on in that world). So I limit accounts and ecommerce transactions when I can. Epic has made some missteps in this area and Steam, historically, hasn't been too bad in this area - certainly quite good compared to other large user-based platforms.

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Sure, that's a valid reason even if it's not a very strong one imo. You can have personal information exposed at any time through Facebook or any other site you've registered with. The fact that Epic had a misstep most likely makes it safer now since they've obviously taken steps to ensure it won't happen again.

you said:

Obviously if that was the only issue it would be a non-issue. This has been clearly explained numerous times yet you seem to not get it. That's fine but please don't keep spreading false information.

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Oh, but by all means please elaborate. We all know how good you are at explaining things.