Oh okay, I was thinking specifically about GOG Support, like responding to tickets sent and help from them. Fair points.

Usually the publisher's/developers (I say usually, because I am sure there are also cases where GOG itself has been the bottleneck, for a reason or another). That is because they (the publishers) are the ones who know or are supposed to know whether the GOG, and HumbleBundle, and whatever, version of the game is at the same level as e.g. the Steam version, or whatever is their primary platform.

For instance, if CDPR hadn't provided updates to the Witcher games on Steam as fast as on GOG, whose fault would it have been? Valve's? Is Valve supposed to track all the time at which level the Witcher games are on GOG, and how fast the updates arrive on Steam versions? Isn't it CDPR's main responsibility? Should Valve do similar tracking for all the tens of thousands of games, just like you are apparently expecting GOG to poll their games whether they have any missing updates elsewhere?

However, when GOG has been made aware e.g. by the customers or the publishers that the GOG version is not up to date, then it becomes GOG's responsibility mainly, at least to talk to the publisher and try to get the missing updates, or in worst cases, maybe even remove the abandoned game from the store.

My understanding (assumption) is that level of testing of GOG games depends whether it is a classic game that GOG itself has worked on (to get working on modern PCs), or if it is a new-ish game where the publisher is still maintaining the game, possibly updating it.

Omerta clearly belongs to the latter category, newer games. No I don't believe GOG has ever really play-tested the game, mainly just smoke-tested maybe that the GOG installer works. GOG probably expects that the publisher has play-tested the game.

But if we are talking about some classic GOG re-release like e.g. Riven, or Star Wars Tie Fighter The Special Edition, then I assume GOG has performed its vaunted play-testing, which they at some point said means they play the game from start to finish on x number of different PC configurations or something like that.

I'll tell you one reason I will continue to shop at gog that nobody else seems to care about: I like navigating the store. I recently visited a few alternatives offered in this thread, and they were universally awful for me. In particular, itch.io's interface made me rage quit before looking at their entire selection. I don't have the patience to scroll to the bottom, wait for the next few to load, and repeat until the whole damn catalog is manually loaded a few titles at a time. Other sites also had a lot of unfinished garbage for sale, with game cards that were unclear about what you were getting.

Given this, I fear whenever I hear the numerous complaints that gog needs to update/renovate the site. It could well be that the next iteration becomes just as painful to use as the other sites. Honestly, other than a few minor fixes, I'd rather they don't change the forums too much, either, for the same reason.

Of course the DRM-free stance and client-free usage (so I would never buy even "DRM-free" games from Steam, because I don't want the client) are good features, as well. Yeah, multi-player games and games that rely on steam's APIs are going to be tied to Galaxy at best, but I don't see that so much as a valid criticism of gog, but instead as a testament of the sorry state of game development.

That's in addition to the fact that the op's gripes haven't affected me much, if at all, yet. In fact, the delayed (but not abandoned) updates just don't matter to me at all. It upsets me more that devs continue to issue game-changing updates well after release, and some gamers actually expect that sort of behavior. I only want bug fixes, thanks. I don't need to start the whole damn game over again to experience your changes every two weeks (or six months; the time period is irrelevant). If the game isn't done, don't release it, or at least keep some sort of warning that it isn't done yet. While there are some notable absences from gog's rpg selection (e.g. Drakensang is supposedly DRM-free, and a number of devs refuse to go DRM-free, denying me games like Disgaea and Star Ocean), I'd rather have that than have to scroll through 100s of crapware rpgs like on some other sites to get to the good ones. I'd also rather gog didn't have sales at all, but instead kept games at their lowest prices all the time, but sales attract customers, so that's never going to change. I'm not sure what, exactly, constitutes a good sale, anyway. What's wrong with the current sale, other than that it occurs right when I have a negative account balance?

Here's one really good reason to prefer GOG over Steam: Family Sharing.

With GOG games, if you have a family and you want to share your games among your family members, you simply install the games on all the computers and everyone can play whenever they want.

On Steam, on the other demands, everyone has to register their own account, then the main account has to set up their incredibly flawed (and honestly just broken) family sharing system and pray to God it works BUT even then you can't play simultanously and you sure as hell can't play local lan multiplayer unless you buy multiple copies of the game. It's a mess!

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When GOG started, there were no DRM-free alternatives. When GOG started, digital games having limited online activation (5 installations and then you have to buy it again) was absolutely normal. Even before games were sold digitally, DRM was a widespread thing.

GOG pioneered the no-DRM approach. So, yeah, the games I buy being DRM-free and me being allowed to do what the f*** I want with the games I buy is something GOG did. Calling it the pirating approach is completely missing the point

Not the DRM-free? That ain't factoring into this at all?

I mean, real talk, there's really not very much GOG has to offer besides aesthetic look and feel to put them above any other store, like Steam. If you don't care about DRM/supporting a DRM-free store, Steam is honestly your best bet.

:O What the heck are you trying to say? I don't remember a post from you being like this before. I need a decoder ring....
I fully concur

Approximate translation:
"I think that the biggest sales should happen around Summer and Christmas, with smaller, minors ones happening at other times like Easter, Fall, Halloween, etc. That's all they need. Well...I don't mind occasional small ones involving particular games or themes, but that's about it.

However, these big sales which I refer to should be AMAZING, containing lots of titles with extremely large discounts. No more of this minuscule percentage cuts for good games and high cuts for awful games, and especially not the bundle BS they keep doing currently whereupon you need to buy EVERYTHING in a package for even DECENT discounts on the games you actually want. That, and drop this lootbox-like business of spending $3 for a random game. Just...no."

She started talking like this maybe 2 or 3 years ago. Nobody has any clue as to why and it's been the source of amusement, confusion, derision, and frustration for and from many.

Depends how you enjoy gaming and media in general...

For those of us who dare to want control over the things we purchase, this site is a godsend!

I am here because:
NO DRM.
NO CLIENT (despite the imo sad push for galaxy).

If either of the above 2 criteria change, I will no longer be here (or interested). Believe it or not, I would rather not game than not be able to have full control over the game I purchase. Same principle goes for music, movies, et cetera.

Thanks! You are good at puzzles :) I am too old for leet speak or whatever that was

Our experts analised it and came to the following conclusion.

Haha.. I still can't believe Fairfox typed that...

You should check out this old article which still applies to your question. It basically sums up the fallacy of game ownership when dependent upon a DRM-based, online connection service:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/12/30/steam-removes-game-order-of-war-challenge-from-user-libraries/#4ce661a82a29

Years ago I was unable to play a physical copy of a game I bought because it required Steam activation. I ended up leaving PC gaming altogether and spent a lot of time with console/arcade emulators.

I tried messing around with abandonware games but I found it was just more trouble than it was worth to get them to work properly. Then I stumbled upon an ad for GOG. I've since bought hundreds of games here and I've hardly had issues with any of them - they just plain work, and they're cheap as hell too.

I will never buy another game from Steam or one requiring activation through any DRM-based service. Period. Maybe I'm not representative of the gaming community, but they can suck it. I think GOG is awesome and I'll never be able to play all of the games I have now anyway.

The reasons are fewer and farther between. You are not the only one with issues here.