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this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2026
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What it grants you is the ability to download and install the game as you see fit with no DRM software getting in the way. You don't even have to use their launcher if you don't want.
Steam allows the exact same thing FYI, they just don’t see the need to needlessly promote it to get sales.
Edit I guess people can’t realize this is specifically about drm-free games….
Of course games with drm can’t be downloaded, gog just doesn’t offer these games, so it’s not an issue there. Yet. If the game is drm free on GoG, it’s also available on Steam, and can be run offline with no checks. IE, Steam offers the exact same thing.
Steam allows DRM and even offers its own. You also can't download anything without the launcher, even if the game is DRM-free.
GOG also allows DRM, it's just not as common
Can you please elaborate on and define what DRM is "allowed" on GOG? From my most recent understanding, you can still play offline and don't need to use the GOG launcher or some other launcher that requires an Internet connection.
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/drm_on_gog_list_of_singleplayer_games_with_drm/page1 The list is still maintained
I get and respect that people have different places where they draw lines. But to me, it doesn't seem like they are abandoning the concept of DRM free in any real way. The majority of these have small bits of extra content, often cosmetic, like twitch drops that need the software to be online to redeem/verify.
For the few games on that list that are actually unplayable or crippled in some way, I am disappointed. For additional free or giveaway content from the developer that is part of the original package distributed through GOG, I'm much more understanding of GOG if the developer failed to accommodate offline verification/unlocking of that content.
Agreed, but an important thing to note is that list of games is smaller than a couple years ago, and I believe many of the ones that were removed because the DRM was removed are listed at the end. A couple of those were just mistaken releases, but several were allowed on GOG by CDPR with DRM fully intact, most notably Hitman 1 with an always-online requirement, and several others had DRM fully intact and were removed only when enough people complained. My point isn't and never was "GOG is bad too, actually"; GOG remains the first place I look when I'm looking for a game, and I install it with the offline installer, which gets archived on the NAS once I've established it works and I reinstall the game with Galaxy because cloud saves and auto updates are convenient. My point was that, while ABSOLUTELY a rarer occurence than on Steam, GOG officially DOES allow DRM for single player games, and it's only vigilant complaints that keep that list small
Today you learned!
I know that those exist. So enlighten me, how do I download them without the launcher?
Steam's primary function since day 1 is literally DRM, you have no clue what you are talking about. Steam offers features like offline play but there's console-like caveats there forcing periodic logins and launcher usage.
Today you learned!
yes there are drm-free games on steam. this does not disprove their point. steam's first role was as drm for half life 2. steam stops working if you don't log in periodically.
And if you download a drm free game it doesn’t need to sync to Steam. You’re providing false information. The link specifies this.
Why are you claiming it does? Where did you get this information?
???? ??? ??????
If you’re buying a game on GoG, it’s because it’s drm free. Which means it’s also drm free on Steam. So anyone looking at those games, would understand the context that we’re talking about the same type of games.
FIFA isn’t available of GoG, so of course we wouldn’t be talking about the same thing on Steam. You’re making massive assumptions dude. The talk has always been about drm free games, no one changed the topic.
oh? how?
The exact same way as gog, download the files to your pc.
huh? that's not even what gog sells itself on. gog offers offline installers. steam takes care of installation itself. you can't download a game from steam, put it on a usb drive, give it to someone else, and have confidence that they will be able to run it.
That’s not true at all…
Where are you getting your information from?
Why do you need an installer when the files are its own folder?
Installers deal with more than just unpacking files into a folder. There are often prerequisite shared libraries that are included in the installer that AREN'T in the game directory, which may or may not need to be installed along with the game depending on if your system already has it.
So just double-clicking the .exe after copying the folder to a new computer is not reliable in the same way GOG's installers are.
steam. note that i said "a game", not "a drm-free game".
And we’re talking about drm free games, which GoG only provides, which means it’s also drm free on Steam…. Steam provides OTHER games that of course have drm.
Of course Steam has its own drm, I never said they didn’t. The picture also talks about this as well… did you not read it?
Oh man I feel for you, you are really patient. These guys will never engage with your argument because apparently “there are multiple types of games on Steam” is too much nuance to process…
we are not. you are. the starter of this comment chain noted that gog guarantees, as part of their offer, that the games you download are drm-free. steam does not. your reply to that said nothing about drm, leading us all to the conclusion that you were saying "you can download files for games on steam just like you can on gog", rather than what you were apparently saying, which was that "for the games on steam that do not have drm you can download files just like you can with all games on gog".
You can only download steam games from the steam app. You can download gog games from the site, without using their galaxy app
That is a fair distinction, but once it’s downloaded and installed they are effectively identical.
Some steam games might still have the steampi and steamworks dll's, so that's still 2 bits that need to be deleted before they're effectively identical.
Having the installers can be important, not every game may work out of the box if you only copy the installed folder to a different machine, some important configurations that are set up in different folders, like in
%appdata%, might be missing. Steam checks if DirectX and the proper MSVC versions are installed, I suppose the GOG installers do that as well.According to the websites, you’re able to move it, and it provides those instructions on how to deal with those minor issues.
So in the end, following dev instructions, they will be the same in the end.
Edit Like so
GOG lets you download installers for all your games that you can back up somewhere so that you can install and run their DRM free games without GOG or even an internet connection. It’s like back when games came on cd/dvd.
Steam is DRM so in most cases you can’t launch any of your games without the Steam client. Steam does sell some games that are DRM free on Steam, but you still need the Steam client to install them.
So the difference here is that you can use GOG to build your own library of DRM free games that don’t need GOG at all. if GOG ceased to exist, you can still install and play all your games on any device you want.
If Steam ceased to exist, you’d have no way to install your games on any device so you’d only be able to play the games you currently have installed, and only if they’re DRM Free.
Steam states in their EULA that your purchase a license to play the game but not own it
So does GOG dude…
Sure. Where is the game installer you can download or the installed game you can download, disconnect from the internet, close steam, and run/install the game?
You could just go down the thread to see the links….
DRM free games are movable, that fits your rant yeah?
The installed files are not an installer. What you're referencing is moving the preexisting program files of a game
Which is the entirety of the game, they also had that on their many itemmed rant. So why would you need an installer, when you have the entire game anyways?