GOG, the wildly popular anti-DRM online games distribution platform, has as part of its ‘Summer Conference’ livestream announced its own online client, GOG Galaxy. While details about the client are currently sparse, they have described it as including the following features:
- DRM-free;
- User profiles;
- User communication with friends;
- Auto updates for games;
- Can be run on multiple machines with a login;
- Cross Play (i.e. multiplayer);
- Optional platform: you can still use gog.com as before to access your games if you don’t want to use Galaxy.
With Galaxy, GOG are putting themselves even more directly in competition with other major clients as Steam, Origin, Uplay… Well okay, Steam.
Flippant? Yes. True? Indisputably. Despite the best efforts of the likes of EA and Ubisoft’s, Steam has grown into a monster that has arguably redefined how we interact with games on PC. GOG are the only company who have managed to mount any serious challenge as a marketplace, though the requirement to log into the site to access your library has always meant that in terms of convenience and flexibility, Steam has always had the edge.
With Galaxy, it seems that GOG are finally ready to try and take on Valve’s service on all fronts and unlike other pretenders, we’re willing to bet that it will provide ample competition. Since their early days as Good Old Games, GOG have garnered a lot of support from PC gamers for making older games available and their stubbornly anti-DRM stance. While it may be a bit fanciful to say that Galaxy will ‘beat’ Steam, the simple fact that Steam may end up with a viable equal means good things for PC gaming. One way or another, things are going to get interesting.
