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GOG Galaxy 2.0 aims to put all your digital games in one place
Competition is supposed to be good, right? It means a bigger selection and better prices, so it's great for consumers. But when the Epic Store launched last December, gamers were pissed. Because it meant their digital games collection was now fragmented between even more services. Gamers like having their collection all in one place, and for most that means sticking with Steam. That isn't great for rival sites like GOG. While it was created as a place to buy classic titles, it's evolved into a marketplace that sells a lot of indie games and even some AAA fare. It added some Steam-like features in its GOG Galaxy launcher, which incorporated things like play stats and leaderboards. But still, there was the fragmentation problem. Galaxy 2.0, now in closed beta, is designed to fix that problem by bringing everything back together.
GOG.com is selling still-in-development games, too
Who says only Steam users get to have all the fun with Early Access games? Well, not GOG anymore. Today the PC-gaming seller is announcing its curated take on vending still-in-development software. Purchases are refundable within 14 days, no time limit (Steam doesn't offer refunds if you've played more than two hours), no questions asked. More than that, if an update breaks one of these games or changes in a way you don't like, you can roll back to a previous version via the service's Galaxy desktop client. And this version of access to non-final games wouldn't truly be a GOG endeavor if any of them were locked behind digital-rights management, so they aren't. Basically, it's treating these builds like any other type of game it'd sell.
GOG's Galaxy platform is one step closer to taking on Steam
It seems like just yesterday Good Old Games was giving away copies of Aliens vs. Predator to get folks to try its (optional) PC gaming service, Galaxy. Times have changed and leading into The Witcher 3: WIld Hunt's release -- the first major title debuting on the storefront -- the platform is moving from closed alpha testing into an open beta. The constant that's carrying over from the alpha is that you aren't required to participate in anything within the software. Not into automatic updates that might fix some of your favorite glitches in a game? That's totally cool; you can opt out and still keep playing. Steam and Origin aren't quite as keen on that.
Good Old Games is taking on Steam with an (optional) PC service of its own
Anyone who's ever bought a game on Steam or Origin is familiar with the concept of a desktop client, but what if managing your game library through a piece of software was merely an option instead of a necessity? That's the question Good Old Games is exploring: the retro PC game seller just announced GOG Galaxy: a new PC gaming platform that promises to provide customers with auto-updating software, a player communication portal and the ability to play multiplayer games with both GOG Galaxy friends and users on other platforms. Oh, and like everything else in GOG's library, the client and every game that uses it will be completely DRM free.
