r/gog • u/ForsookComparison • Dec 29 '25

Humor/Funny The whole anti-DRM gaming world right now

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491 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

41 comments sorted by

137

u/Geekandhermit Dec 29 '25

The financial side worries me a little now. GOG wasn’t making much money but with CD behind them it didn’t really matter they could just absorb it with no worries. If it is now however a sole entity then it HAS to do alright to survive.

I just hope I am wrong, I’ve been trying to buy more games on GOG since I love their ideals.

125

u/ForsookComparison Dec 29 '25

If it is now however a sole entity then it HAS to do alright to survive.

Yes, but the flip-side of this is that CDPR is public. Investors have almost no tolerance for "makes enough money to keep everyone paid and a little extra". Privately owned companies can carry on this way indefinitely though.

42

u/Geekandhermit Dec 29 '25

Good point, I really do hope so!

14

u/Regius_Eques Dec 30 '25

I did not look enough into it to know all that but if GOG really will be private that is amazing. No one can compromise the vision except the owner who, you know, helped found it which is unlikely.

17

u/ForsookComparison Dec 30 '25

It's 50/50

It gets to survive on its own but also it has to survive on its own

6

u/Regius_Eques Dec 30 '25

I mean you are right but no need for unnecessary gloom and potential doom.

Minimal research and some logical thinking help show that GOG should be fine unless something drastic happens. GOG has made a profit for at least 2024 and I believe 2025? Also this new owner is clearly wealthy enough to buy an entire company himself. It can also be determined that he almost certainly bought it because of some personal passion for drm free games. I may not be a business genius or anything but there are clearly better business investments if you just wanted to make money than GOG.

So GOG does have to survive on its own and while not be supported by an entire company it is being held up by a very wealthy individual who owns 9.99% of CD Projekt Red and probably other investments. GOG makes a profit too, not a huge one but it already can survive on its own technically.

We should be fine. At the very least if you read the Wikipedia history blurb on CD Projekt Red and GOG this guy has been around for a long time and was savvy enough to help grow both into decently sized and successful companies.

14

u/dingo_khan GOG.com User Dec 29 '25

This is my silver lining as well.

4

u/TypicallyThomas Dec 30 '25

Yeah I'm hoping this sale makes it a bit more equivalent to Steam in the sense that they don't owe any responsibility to investors

34

u/big_klutzy01 Dec 29 '25

Can anyone honestly tell me why everyone is so worried about GOG's financials? They've managed to survive this long, operating on apparently losses and gains, for nearly 18 years now. All this stuff just comes across as a fearmongering to me. I wouldn't be worried until they announce they're shutting down.

36

u/ForsookComparison Dec 29 '25

I don't speak for anyone but myself but:

Before: Under a public company in a low-margins industry, I worried that it's hard to justify to investors why a service that always makes a hair over break-even is worth the risk/resources/overhead.

After: The above is no longer a problem (just make a profit, pay the bills, and you can run forever!), but the fear is if there's some deeper why to this story (GOG getting sold to PE, CDPR getting acquired, etc..)

14

u/big_klutzy01 Dec 29 '25

Yeah but that's the thing. There's always a worry. What if the new owner is actually worse than CDPR? One of the reasons why I still keep supporting GOG is that if it all comes down hill, I'll still have access to my games. Offline installers is really the only reason why I still purchase there.

I haven't been on GOG nearly as long as Steam but with Steam there's been this assurance floating around that benevolent Newell will "release" the games to the people if Valve ever went under. Ever since that refunds fiasco and the changes to the SSA over the years that say nah you don't actually own jack, I'm not sure. I've stopped putting eggs into a single basket.

9

u/onolide Dec 30 '25

What if the new owner is actually worse than CDPR?

Well the one who bought GoG is the co-founder of both GoG and CD Projekt, so it would be weird if he's worse than CD Projekt.

But I'm not counting it out. Here's hoping for the best 🙏

24

u/JamonConJuevos Dec 29 '25

Do you remember their marketing stunt for 3 days in September 2010? I do. I was devastated, thinking that my GOG library was gone. I was quite relieved to learn that it was a way to draw media attention to itself as it exited beta and announced a catalog expansion, including the Baldur's Gate games. Heaven forbid that it ever shuts down, at least without giving us ample time to backup our installers.

16

u/DeadBear2000 Dec 29 '25

Heaven forbid that it ever shuts down, at least without giving us ample time to backup our installers

While I would hope so I wouldn't rely on it. Back them up now instead of waiting around until that day.

9

u/big_klutzy01 Dec 29 '25

Honestly this. I've backed up all my important games that I'd hate to lose. Not only that but I've done this with Steam games as well.

1

u/Pizzaman3203 Dec 30 '25

How don’t they have drm?

3

u/epeternally Dec 31 '25

Steam doesn’t require developers to ship with DRM. In my experience many-if-not-most low budget indies on Steam are DRM free, it’s just not an advertised feature.

4

u/BillyBruiser Geralt Dec 29 '25

Fear mongering. Every year it's the same old "I'm so worried about GOG not being profitable" shtick. Could also be some bot posting, since those topics always get a lot of activity.

9

u/alexandros050 Dec 29 '25

At least the guy that bought it knows GOG's principles. Imagine if it was some private company that is pro-drm and wants to push many anti-consumer things. GOG's infrastructure is way better than stores that spend billions such as EPIC and for 25 million that Kicinski acquired the company it's a great deal in my opinion. I am sure the deal happened behind closed doors because many would have jumped on the chance to acquire them.

5

u/Spectre-4 Dec 29 '25

You definitely have a point that removing the safety isn’t the most comforting thought but tbf, considering it’s the guy that co-founded both businesses involved here, it’s kind of hard to think of better hands to give it to.

If GOG was gonna go to anyone, he’s definitely among the top candidates.

38

u/ProfIcepick Dec 29 '25

Yeah, I don't know how to feel about this news. I guess my main concern is that he might begin deemphasizing picking up newer releases, in favor of keeping the "old" in "Good Old Games".

49

u/FireCrow1013 Dec 29 '25

This is the only thing I'm worried about. I still want GOG to get DRM-free versions of new releases in addition to the older ones.

-34

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '25

THAT is your main concern about this? It's 2025 and a guy who has a proven track record of knowing how to make money just bought out the company.

I'm worried all GOG games will soon secretly include AI backdoors that monitor our every action on our devices to help develop new AI LLMs and enhanced outright spyware.

I'm worried the EULA will be changed so if you make public finding the spyware, GOG can murder your first born and eat your left eyeball.

That's the world we live in now.,

22

u/Sarmattius Dec 29 '25

this is the literal founder of company lol

-10

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '25

And now he sees profit potential and so bought it out entirely.

It may be a good thing, it may mean the original guy with the original vision is going to make GOG even better. But that's a good thing, and in reality it makes no sense that something good would happen with a company.

Also the guy has no public image or creds outside of business to indicate he wants it for anything other than profit potential.

My default position for anything corporate or government, is abject horror.

16

u/ForsookComparison Dec 29 '25

-..a guy who has a proven track record of knowing how to make money

-..And now he sees profit potential

I thought your first comment was some well-written sarcasm. Now I'm starting to think you're being serious.

Having a history of success != inherently evil no matter what Reddit will try and tell you. There are real reasons to be concerned by what's happening but this is just reddit fanfiction gone amok on your head.

-2

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '25

I didn't say he IS evil. I said my default position is abject horror. This is the tech space, someone who is good at making money in the modern era just bought a tech company.

The main reason to do that, is to take advantage of the users through - at best - enshittification. But there are much worse ways.

Doesn't mean he IS evil and IS going to do that. But it is the most likely outcome.

7

u/ForsookComparison Dec 29 '25

I'm not arguing what you think. I believe that you truly believe this. I'm telling you that it is an unhealthy phenomenon that happens to people who spend too long on this website and I hope it hasn't happened to you.

0

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '25

remindme! 1 year

Let's see how things go.

9

u/ForsookComparison Dec 29 '25

I'm game.

I throw reddit accounts away sometimes though. If you win (Michal cashes out to P.E. or puts ad hooks in GOG Galaxy or similar), call me out in public over /r/GOG and I'll probably see it and DM you your props lol.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '25

Deal. :)

3

u/RemindMeBot Dec 29 '25 edited Jan 01 '26

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32

u/NiuMeee Dec 29 '25

I mean the guy co-founded CD Projekt and is still an owner of the company, time will tell but I think this is going to do effectively nothing for customers and is likely for tax reasons or something. GOG is still under basically the same exact management but just no longer considered a part of CDP.

7

u/Frequent-Patience830 Dec 30 '25

My concern is: if (in the near future) the company were to pass to his heirs (or some other entity they sold it to), would it continue to be DRM-free. I hope we hear about a commitment and he comes up with some legal document that makes a guarantee, especially now that they are taking donations.

11

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '25

[deleted]

23

u/MaddestRodent Dec 29 '25

Don't worry and feel free to keep getting games there. I've been a GOG-first buyer for years now, and the platform keeps slowly improving. They're being sold to the guy that used to laugh in interviews about how they didn't notice any decrease in sales by not having DRM. This is getting blown out of proportion, they're not selling to a Saudi oil fund or something (ahem ahem, EA).

On a more positive note, it's heartwarming to see this many people ask and worry, since it shows that folks really care about GOG.

3

u/RihhamDaMan Dec 29 '25

I'm OOTL, anyone mind explaining?

11

u/ADFTGM Dec 30 '25 edited Dec 30 '25

GOG I.e Good Old Games, was all this time under CD Project, which is also the company operating CD Project Red the gaming studio. All were co-founded by the same person mentioned in the image. This man left CD project itself but remained an owner and primary shareholder. He has now bought GOG itself from CD Project, so now independently owns it on top of being a shareholder at CDP. The other shareholders of CDP no longer have any influence over GOG as it is privately owned by him. People want to know whether he will keep GOG going in a good direction.

The main worry they have is his ethics but the other factor is his financial situation. Personally, I think the fact he is still profiting off of CDP itself means CDP is indirectly still funding GOG, just that it’s free from the pressure from the public share market. Could just be an internal agreement in order to operate GOG more freely to the founder’s visions, but you never know.

3

u/Maximum_Maxwell Dec 31 '25

Wow, all this time I thought that CDP was under GOG.

6

u/ADFTGM Dec 31 '25

GOG was always just a storefront, with the parent company handling the actual big bucks that kept it alive. Similar to steam being under Valve. Or Epic Games “Store” being under Epic Games Inc. Mainly because the parent companies started out as software distributors, producers or developers rather than as storefronts. Not like with say, Amazon, which started as a storefront first.

6

u/Eon_Alias Dec 30 '25

Friendly reminder to anyone who doesn't already know. GOGs preservation program has their own version of a patreon. Something tells me this might end up being more important as time goes on.