'Steam is successful with its ease of use,' GOG's new proprietor says, however he's not concerned with choosing a combat: 'I feel a lot might be executed in GOG with out dropping its core values and the best way it operates'
CD Projekt wrapped up 2025 by promoting off GOG, its famously DRM-free digital storefront, to Michal Kiciński , a co-founder of each CD Projekt and GOG. Within the years because it launched, GOG has expanded past ‘good outdated video games’ to hold a choice of newer releases, nevertheless it stays comparatively area of interest, and has by no means been an enormous moneymaker for CD Projekt.
However in a brand new interview with GamesIndustry, Kiciński and GOG managing director Maciej Gołębiewski stated there’s room for it to flourish and discover success, even in a market so totally dominated by Steam.
“Steam is clearly a Goliath,” stated Gołębiewski. “So for any firm to attempt to deal with Steam is a really onerous battle. We have seen Discord launch their retailer, we have seen Epic Video games launch their retailer—and due to the lawsuit with Apple, we all know how a lot it has value them to launch this battle towards Steam.
Gołębiewski stated Steam is “doing an superior job,” nevertheless it additionally has completely different values than GOG: “Actually we will do extra for traditional retro and fashionable classics by way of accessibility, by way of discoverability.” And whereas GOG is increasing the variety of new recreation releases it carries, one thing Gołębiewski attributed partially to “an increasing number of unbiased studios which can be prepared to work with unbiased shops,” it is not going to attempt to beat Steam at that recreation.
“GOG has its personal strengths and actually ought to deal with sustaining them and even strengthening them,” Kiciński stated. “There isn’t a have to attempt to be just like the others. GOG has its personal identification and its personal uniqueness, which could be very a lot appreciated by players.”
There may be not less than one space the place Kiciński thinks GOG could possibly be extra Steam-like, although: “Steam is successful with its ease of use. In that regard, I feel a lot might be executed in GOG with out dropping its core values and the best way it operates on the whole.”
I feel that is true to an extent, though my feeling is that what is likely to be seen as “ease” is merely ubiquity: Steam’s been round eternally and everybody makes use of it, so the Steam manner of doing issues naturally seems, nicely, pure. I’d argue that GOG’s barebones ‘obtain, set up, play’ method is the true ease of use, however I do know that is not likely how issues are executed lately—GOG’s Galaxy consumer brings loads of performance to the desk, it is not probably the most intuitive piece of software program ever put collectively. Coming at it from that route, just a little extra user-friendliness in all probability is not a nasty thought.
One factor that will not be altering below the brand new possession is GOG’s foundational precept: no DRM. “It is a core worth of GOG, and there is no indicators that it would die in any seen future,” Kiciński stated. “This isn’t solely an moral worth, nevertheless it’s additionally very pragmatic. It helps folks to take pleasure in video games it doesn’t matter what occurs with the software program supplied by the platform or what web connection they’ve.”