Good Old Games or GOG, CD Projekt’s marketplace and platform for non-digital rights managed PC games, has officially ended a service that already didn’t feel all that long to this world. What once seemed like a promising way to slowly import parts of your Steam library into GOG, where they could exist in an infinitely archivable format, is now gone for good.
Launched in 2008 as an alternative to other digital gaming stores on PC, GOG focused on making older, hard-to-find games purchasable. The icing on the cake? All of these games would be available without any digital rights management software to restrict what you do with your .exe copies. Unlike Steam, GOG games are much easier to back up and reinstall across multiple computers without ever having to tangle yourself with any sort of online account authorization. In 2012, the service expanded from older PC gaming gems to include modern titles while maintaining the DRM-free policy.
In 2016, GOG announced “Connect”, a service that allows you to connect your Steam library to redeem select titles you already own as DRM-free copies on GOG, with those games only available in a limited time window to eligible to redeem. However, those who have checked GOG.com/Connect over the past few years have found nothing but digital tumbleweeds. And now, in January 2023, that link and service only leads to the GOG homepage, officially signaling the end of this once very promising program.
GOG.com/Connect always had a touch of “this is too good to be true”. A service that gives you an extra copy of a game you already own with no restrictions on how you can backup, install, reinstall, sell or share it? How even?
But while the service was active, not only was it a great way to migrate to a new platform, it was also a handy way to archive your Steam library. Although Steam is a fairly accessible and reliable platform that often gives you access to games that you bought but have since been pulled from the store (2007s prey
Like many others, I used this service quite a bit when it started. I would bookmark the link to visit once a week. But as the games available began to dry up, it faded from memory. I’m still playing the game “Should I get this on Steam or GOG?” Every time something I want shows up in both services. The promise of GOG Connect once made this question irrelevant.