GOG Galaxy lets you ditch online activation

Good Old Games has unveiled GOG Galaxy, a new client that will allow users to embrace a number of online features, like Steam cross-play. It will also give you the option to opt out, without preventing you from playing your games offline.

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After CD Projekt RED wrapped up their presentation for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Good Old Games took the stage to announce a new version of their online platform. The system, dubbed GOG Galaxy, introduces the idea of an optional client, allowing players to utilize as many or as few online features as they want. Regardless, users will not be required to activate their product online.

GOG Galaxy will feature conventional client features, like game updating and a friend system. However, users will not be required to use any of these features to jump into their game. The client will also feature cross-play capabilities, in case other friends are on different avenues like Steam.

For more information, check out the video below.

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Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

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  • reply
    June 5, 2014 12:15 PM

    Ozzie Mejia posted a new article, GOG Galaxy lets you ditch online activation.

    Good Old Games has unveiled GOG Galaxy, a new client that will allow users to embrace a number of online features, like Steam cross-play. It will also give you the option to opt out, without preventing you from playing your games offline.

    • reply
      June 5, 2014 12:19 PM

      The announcement is cool I think, but the entire time I watched that I couldn't stop thinking about how awesome that dude's voice was.

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      June 5, 2014 1:24 PM

      Interesting idea. Other companies have tried similar things - Raptr and Xfire spring to mind - but they've always had ulterior motives or have done it kind of badly. An established company like GOG doing it though... that'll be interesting to see. Pretty much everything they've done in the past has been mondo consumer friendly.

      I'm particularly interested in how the updates will work, since GOG mostly caters to older games. Will this be a way to push out community updates for older games in the wake of things like the GameSpy shutdown? Lots of potential.

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        June 5, 2014 1:26 PM

        They've been pushing more into the current titles, as has Humble, so that bit makes perfect sense to me. Although, I suspect the client will be required down the road like all other services.

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          June 6, 2014 1:52 AM

          I dunno, GOG's whole selling point is that they don't provide DRM. I can't see them rolling back on that, because then they'd be yet another company trying to do exactly what Steam does, and let's be honest, nobody really has been able to compete with Steam on that playing field. GOG's success is largely due to them not doing any sort of DRM.

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      June 5, 2014 1:25 PM

      I guess this may appeal to some, but I think the cross platform stuff is probably the best selling point for this crowd. I think most Shackers prefer to have their profiles aka bragging rights.

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      June 5, 2014 3:16 PM

      I'll take it! +1 signed

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      June 5, 2014 6:44 PM

      Wishing it was out now. Pretty exciting.

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