By Nelson Schneider - 06/12/16 at 02:36 PM CT
Back in June 2014 – two years ago – I was excited about the steps GOG.com, the PC gaming platform owned by ‘Witcher’ developer, CD Projekt, was taking in reaching feature parity with the 500 lb. gorilla of PC gaming platforms, Steam. At the time, I speculated that GOG would have to do something drastic, like give away DRM-free copies of games that customers already own on Steam, in order to grow its user-base.
Guess what GOG.com announced this past week? GOG Connect is a new feature that allows PC gamers with both Steam and GOG accounts (read: ALL PC GAMERS) to link their Steam profile to their GOG profile and receive complimentary GOG copies of select games in their Steam library.
While GOG Connect isn’t currently the 100% comprehensive Steam backup I would eventually like to see, the fact that CD Projekt was willing to make this move at all shows how insanely committed the company is to not being a Big Evil Corporation or behaving in a typical Big Media manner.
The fault behind the incomplete nature of GOG Connect doesn’t lie with CD Projekt. It lies with the individual developers and publishers who must perpetually agree to list their digital media products on a given storefront, and who must also agree that giving away free “backup” licenses is acceptable. We must always remember that nobody “owns” software that they “purchase” anymore. We simply purchase “licenses” that “allow” us to use the software for as long as the rightsholder (who actually does own it) deigns. With a DRM-free system like the one at GOG.com, users are free to flaunt the letter of the law because the rightsholders have no way of enforcing their will, so it is unsurprising that many of them would balk at the ideal that GOG Connect promotes.
Whether or not it’s complete, or ever will be, GOG Connect is a fantastic, pro-consumer move from a company that is fast becoming a major player in electronic gaming. It gladdens my heart to know that gamers (and software customers in general) have a gladiator in the arena fighting for them and their rights, despite the overwhelming number of monsters in the arena fighting under the banner of corporate greed.
Comments
Matt - wrote on 06/18/16 at 03:31 PM CT
It's shocking to witness a pro-consumer move today in the game industry, which is welcoming and sad at the same time (because so few companies have such a perspective). Nintendo could learn from this. Just think if they would have made all NES and SNES games free to those who bought a Wii U. The sales of the unit might not be as bleak as they are now. And the cost to Nintendo would have been minimal. I hope GOG sales and user base increases because of it.
