Buying on Steam versus buying on GOG?

[Armani]

I don't care particularly where I get the game, although I do see that Steam has an inbuilt workshop for mods. Is there any reason to consider getting the Gog version?

[conrado.lacerda]

There is no DRM on GOG, but Egosoft also provides a "no-Steam" executable on their site.

[zpc]

GOG game update & installation management is a lot more liberal then compared to the one of Steam. "No update" on GOG means exactly that - never update until the user wants it. Steam won't let you do that and forces updates (really "awesome" for heavily modded Fallout4 / Skyrim / Starfield installations)

I prefer GOG over Steam because of no DRM and complete freedom for my game library.

[PeaceMaker]

Originally posted by Armani:

I don't care particularly where I get the game, although I do see that Steam has an inbuilt workshop for mods. Is there any reason to consider getting the Gog version?

1. DRM less.
2. You can start the game without any other crap starting with it. (It's faster).
3. You actually KEEP the game.
4. Update when YOU want to.
5. The GOG guys still believe in gaming freedom. They pretty much get all my money now.

I am always impressed with any company that releases its games on GOG, ON RELEASE day. Ones that don't make me highly suspicious. *cough*BethesdaEpic*cough*

p.s. i almost forgot.

6. You get some great OLD games that I played as a kid and never thought I'd see again.

[postmaster]

Originally posted by conrado.lacerda:

There is no DRM on GOG, but Egosoft also provides a "no-Steam" executable on their site.

Thanks for the heads-up. This is preventing me from buying the last two DLC because I want off steam. I have most most of the DLC including soundtrack, but I have now abandon buying any game that have DRM. RDR2 has shrown it hurts when Windows 7 support was cut off.

EDIT: I need to sign-up/login to access the file, what a pain.

[trooperrob]

I thought that if you copied all files from steam to another folder, downloaded the no-steam.exe - then you could continue playing them as long as your computer lasted.
Kudos to Egosoft for doing this, even if you have to register with Egosoft to download that .exe.

It was certainly the case with X3AP.

I wonder if the saves are in a different place with Gog versions, as the only issue with what I described above is that the 'live' version will save games in the same area as your 'offline' version.

The DRM issue is why many would buy off GOG, I personally use Steam as I can't be bothered. It might have made a difference in the days of Starforce DRM that damaged your computer.
I did have some off Gog, but hate having different platforms for everything.

The Steam Forums / Chat / Friends might be another reason - Don't know if GOG has similar now.

Also, I don't think registering is a massive burden to download a DRM free exe therefore giving you the ability to play the game with no restriction.

I can understand not releasing the game on all platforms on one day. It would allow the company to deal with the rush, and any problems, before releasing on the other platform a week later. However like you I would be very grumpy If another platform got the game before mine and I had to wait...

[PeaceMaker]

Originally posted by trooperrob:

I can understand not releasing the game on all platforms on one day. It would allow the company to deal with the rush, and any problems, before releasing on the other platform a week later. However like you I would be very grumpy If another platform got the game before mine and I had to wait...

Some of us had to wait a long time before getting a good game on GOG.

I bought 2 games on Steam cos they were so good I thought they would never be bought onto GOG. Xcom 2 and Bannerlords.

About 6 months later they came out on GOG! I have 2 copies of the 2 games now.

That won't work with me any more.

[GreenPea]

The only problem with DRM I have ever had was back in the days of floppy disks and CDs. It wouldn't read the physical media and then you were ♥♥♥♥ out of luck.
"Please insert disc 1..." <cr>
"Please insert disc 1..."


I have never had any issues with DRM from games on Steam. Either very lucky for decades or it is an issue which has been totally blown out of proportion. I get the "want to own my games" thing but if I was into that I would buy only physical media and that isn't going to happen - see my first paragraph as to why.

GOG is great for free games once a week; otherwise I am getting it on Steam. The ecosystem here is the best available.

[Captain Canard]

I'm very tempted to switch to GOG myself. I don't like what's been happening with the Steam app in recent years, and I know the day is coming when Steam will no longer support Windows 10, killing all my games that could care less.

These days I really don't buy a lot of games anyway, since games like X4 keep me occupied forever, LOL. That and most of the new games are rubbish (very expensive rubbish), so I've just been sticking with the oldies but goodies.

Does GOG have amazing sales like Steam? In case I need to rebuy some of my favorites to rid myself of this annoying Steam app. In the meantime, I'll check out that "no-steam" file people keep talking about.

[Hydra_360ci]

Don't think that'll happen Win10 and 11 are pretty much the same. Steamclient isn't all of a sudden quit working on Win10... it still works with Win7.

[PeaceMaker]

Originally posted by Captain Canard:

Does GOG have amazing sales like Steam? In case I need to rebuy some of my favorites to rid myself of this annoying Steam app. In the meantime, I'll check out that "no-steam" file people keep talking about.

Oh yes, GOG has some amazing sales of some excellent games. I sound like an ad here, but you believe me I'll let GOG know when they go wrong and probably annoy them as I do some Steam forums.
Usually the deals are best for older games though.

[NorowaretaTenshi]

GOG is really pleasant, although Steam got it's Steam workshop which can be helpful - if you don't want to use some other sites

[Captain Canard]

Originally posted by Hydra_360ci:

Don't think that'll happen Win10 and 11 are pretty much the same. Steamclient isn't all of a sudden quit working on Win10... it still works with Win7.

Oh.. I thought Steam recently pulled support for Windows 7, which is why I started worrying about Windows 10.. That and the fact it's been acting worse and worse for me after each update (slower, more unstable, etc).

As for Windows 11, doesn't it have a more recent version of DirectX that's not available on Windows 10? For some reason I thought there were new games coming out that won't work on older DX. I could easily be confused however, like I appear to be when it comes to Steam on Win 7.

Still, the nice thing about GOG is I don't have to worry about some launcher not working, and most the games I enjoy are older single-player games specifically written for older versions of Windows (I'm including 10 which loses Microsoft support soon), so I should in theory be able to play those games forever on my frozen 10 as long as I can launch them directly.

[YouTube.com/StoneLegion]

Not sure if the Beta is ever on GOG. The big part for me is the Beta Builds. When they come out especially before a new expansion the 7.0 example coming out in about 1 hour 20 minutes. It's worth playing around it as it's been out for what? 2 months or so. Nice to see / test new things and contribute to the development of the game.

[PeaceMaker]

Originally posted by YouTube.com/StoneLegion:

Not sure if the Beta is ever on GOG. The big part for me is the Beta Builds. When they come out especially before a new expansion the 7.0 example coming out in about 1 hour 20 minutes. It's worth playing around it as it's been out for what? 2 months or so. Nice to see / test new things and contribute to the development of the game.

You can get the beta on GOG.

You just can't if you're on GOG AND Linux which is a pain. But you can if on Steam and Linux.

[postmaster]

I finally did it, got the non-steam executable by registering game at Egosoft.

I want to point out the advantage of going DRM Free.

1. Games will run slightly faster because you have one less program open eating up CPU cycles.

2. DRM has side effects where the game does not start. I''ve only detected this with the EPIC APPS. I have around 4 games that refused to start, but on other platform same game starts without issues on the same computer.

3. The game is yours to keep, your not buying a licence to access your game & you can play game without internet connection.