Depends on the game. As I mentioned in another thread, there are many games on Steam which are DRM-free and do not require the client. GOG’s advertising suggests they are the only method for getting such games, but as always, the devil is in the details.
Mostly it comes down to how much you feel about one issue over the other, but I don’t see how they can be unrelated if there’s a monetary transaction involved.
Considering games with no DRM can have it added retroactively, that Steam pushes updates I may not want with no option to decline, and that that wiki can’t even load in its entirety without erroring out for me and comes down to user submitted data, GOG’s DRM free promise is more than just advertising.
Oh, I absolutely would – I’m just making a point based on a previous statement earlier in the thread:
Considering games with no DRM can have it added retroactively, that Steam pushes updates I may not want with no option to decline
If the practice is that you need local backups on purchase anyway, then I fail to see the difference between non-DRM games on Steam and those on GOG. It feels like a different goalpost is being used depending on what service is being discussed.
Undoing DRM-free quickly enough that I couldn’t download my remaining installers would be speedrunning the failure of a company faster than Unity, but other than that, they can’t take away what I and others have already downloaded.
The difference is that even with the convenience of a launcher, I can decline an update that would undo DRM-free rather than manually copying every vetted DRM-free game on Steam to another directory every time there’s a patch. And that’s only to entertain this apocalyptic what-if that would never happen because it would trigger false advertising law suits would instantly destroy the company.
I suppose so, but even if that bothered me, it would still mean I’m not owning the games I buy when I shop elsewhere.
Depends on the game. As I mentioned in another thread, there are many games on Steam which are DRM-free and do not require the client. GOG’s advertising suggests they are the only method for getting such games, but as always, the devil is in the details.
Mostly it comes down to how much you feel about one issue over the other, but I don’t see how they can be unrelated if there’s a monetary transaction involved.
Considering games with no DRM can have it added retroactively, that Steam pushes updates I may not want with no option to decline, and that that wiki can’t even load in its entirety without erroring out for me and comes down to user submitted data, GOG’s DRM free promise is more than just advertising.
Maybe. If you trust them, though now… I don’t.
The reason why this doesn’t concern me at all is that the very nature of the business I run means that I explicitly don’t have to trust them.
Does it? What recourse do you have if they change their policy and you don’t have local backups of your games?
If ownership is what you’re worried about, why wouldn’t you already have the installers downloaded and backed up?
Oh, I absolutely would – I’m just making a point based on a previous statement earlier in the thread:
If the practice is that you need local backups on purchase anyway, then I fail to see the difference between non-DRM games on Steam and those on GOG. It feels like a different goalpost is being used depending on what service is being discussed.
Undoing DRM-free quickly enough that I couldn’t download my remaining installers would be speedrunning the failure of a company faster than Unity, but other than that, they can’t take away what I and others have already downloaded.
Neither can Steam. Then the difference is down to those games on Steam which are not DRM-free.
The difference is that even with the convenience of a launcher, I can decline an update that would undo DRM-free rather than manually copying every vetted DRM-free game on Steam to another directory every time there’s a patch. And that’s only to entertain this apocalyptic what-if that would never happen because it would trigger false advertising law suits would instantly destroy the company.