From the opinion piece:
Last year, I pointed out how many big publishers came crawlin’ back to Steam after trying their own things: EA, Activision, Microsoft. This year, for the first time ever, two Blizzard games released on Steam: Overwatch and Diablo 4.
GOG is also good for consumers, too (in some ways, moreso than Steam, like DRM-free games with install files) but it doesn’t get the same love. I understand why, Steam was already the market leader, has a way more polished product, and GOG really still focused on “what’s in the name” of Good Old Games. Most of their catalogue seems to be focused on older titles, which definitely makes it seemingly more catered to an older, classic gaming audience.
I love the idea of gog but they need to invest in their own store. They need to make a client that’s worth a damn, or make the website work better, or both. I routinely forget that gog exists, if I had a client on my computer with a store that worked I would probably give them more money. Getting old games from gog working on Linux is usually fine but new releases are often a shit show. Lack of steam deck support really kills my willingness to buy from them. I will never enjoy downloading X amounts of 4gb files to run a game, just use a better protocol like BitTorrent or something. I don’t think it’s fair to consumers that the best gog clients are 3rd party, unsupported and receive zero funding from CPR for making gog a usable platform.
I don’t like monopolies, but it’s hard to argue that any other service offers the same value to the end user.
Well yeah, because gog is selling games ethically… That’s great, I think it’s good that they exist, and if I want a specific game I’ll often go to them first
But that’s kind of the limit… They don’t have much power, they advocate against drm and all, but I don’t see them fighting in the courts or the media the way the EFF always leads the charge.
That’s fine - they’re a store, and like a local shop, I’d rather give them my business than a chain
Steam gets so much praise because they’re Walmart, but instead of destroying the local economy, they go out of their way to add value to it and lower the barriers of entry for everyone. They’re a monopoly that goes out of their way to improve the industry they dominate, including by improving competition