LibriumArcana.Games

Ars Technica wrote:Good Old Games (GOG), the online outfit best known for offering downloadable, DRM-free versions of hundreds of classic PC titles, seems set to take on Valve and its Steam platform more directly with today's announcement of GOG Galaxy, an optional platform that aims to provide all the benefits of a centralized game launcher without many of the headaches of current platform options.

As teased in a somewhat vague "vision" trailer for the upcoming service, GOG Galaxy promises to offer convenient features like a centralized launcher, automated game updates, and chat between players without the more onerous requirements of services like Steam, UPlay, Origin, etc. That means games using Galaxy will be DRM-free, with no need for online activation or an Internet connection to play single-player. "Your game will always launch," as the trailer puts it. You supposedly don't even have to create a GOG Galaxy account to use the service unless you want to share your in-game achievements with friends. GOG goes so far as to call it "the optional client."

The trailer also sells Galaxy as a way to avoid being locked in to a certain provider for online game functions. "We strongly believe that you should be free to play together with all your friends without any third-party client apps or accounts required." That's a fine idea, but it's a bit hard to envision it working without the cooperation of other publishers and PC platform makers, who often seem quite content to lock players into their own walled garden servers for online gameplay.

Still, it's nice to see GOG trying to provide the benefits of a somewhat centralized PC game platform while avoiding the problem that you "might not feel you actually own the games you buy," as the trailer puts it. We're eager to hear more details about the effort going forward, but for now we're content to sign up to try it out through an upcoming beta for The Witcher Adventure Game.