GOG Galaxy Hits Open Beta, Allows Online Multiplayer Crossplay With Steam Games
Good Old Games (or GOG.com) is well known for its massive DRM-free catalog of PC games ranging from today's bestsellers to classic titles from decades past. Today, the website expanded beyond its virtual storefront with the open beta launch of a new platform called GOG Galaxy.
Galaxy presents itself as a more in-depth version of the GOG website. All of your games from GOG are added to the library where you can activate features such as the ability to create a backup copy of the game, turn off automatic updates and the ability to play offline. In the future, users can also revert to a past update of the game if the current update creates problems during gameplay.
As for the gameplay itself, Galaxy offers features to enrich the experience such as achievements and multiplayer support. One notable feature about Galaxy's multiplayer system is that it allows crossplay between games on Galaxy and Steam. This means that if you play a game through Galaxy that features multiplayer, you can play it with friends who play the same game on Steam.
Just like its DRM-free approach to games, GOG doesn't want to restrict its players to just the GOG community through multiplayer, so allowing crossplay is a very definitive feature for the platform. As for the online community itself, Galaxy offers services such as chat, and it allows players to join or invite other players to games.
All that Galaxy has to offer is very reminiscent of Valve's Steam platform. It's no secret that the two companies are competitors in the PC gaming space, and the addition of Galaxy is another way for GOG to attract customers, but the best aspect of Galaxy is that it's all optional.
If you do use it, you can choose to activate certain features while keeping others off. In fact, you don't even have to use Galaxy at all for games bought at GOG. The website already comes with a library where you can download your purchases. On the other hand, any game you buy through Valve has to be played on Steam, but it's the exact opposite case for GOG.
The company's DRM-free claim has been its biggest selling point for years, allowing customers to have complete control over their games. Users can still use GOG as just a marketplace, but for those who want to get more out of it, Galaxy might be something worth downloading.
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Rexly Peñaflorida is a freelance writer for Tom's Hardware covering topics such as computer hardware, video games, and general technology news.
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amk-aka-Phantom As much as I like Steam, I'm overjoyed to see more competition for it. Too much nonsense with regional locks recently (which I am a victim to, residing in India which is now grouped in with CIS by Skeever Annex, and I'm offended because I'm not a permanent resident and don't want to be locked by this "only playable in..." BS). And this cross-play thing is indeed an extremely useful measure. Too often I hear stuff like "oh all my friends are on XBL so I'll buy an Xbox". PC gaming scene shouldn't have that.Reply -
Deus Gladiorum Really looking forward to getting my beta invite. For the first time, I don't dread using another game platform alongside Steam.Reply -
semitope Talking about crossplay on PC is kind of silly isn't it? It would be something if you couldn't play with other PC users just because of where you bought the gameReply -
Merry_Blind I only just bought my first game on GOG a month ago (Heroes of Might and Magic III of course!), but I might just install this once it's out of "beta". I don't really have any problems with Steam, but I do like the idea of DRM-free games, and GOG and their sister-company CDProjekt are worth encouraging and investing into.Reply -
Merry_Blind I only just bought my first game on GOG a month ago (Heroes of Might and Magic III of course!), but I might just install this once it's out of "beta". I don't really have any problems with Steam, but I do like the idea of DRM-free games, and GOG and their sister-company CDProjekt are worth encouraging and investing into.Reply -
stoned_ritual The fact that they are touting "crossplay" as a feature is pretty hilarious. I have never bought a game on steam and not been able to play with people who bought the game from walmart. Asinine. "YOU CAN PLAY PC GAMES ONLINE WITH OTHER PC GAMERS." No doi.Reply -
jimmysmitty ReplyAnything but Origin, amiright?
Yup.
The fact that they are touting "crossplay" as a feature is pretty hilarious. I have never bought a game on steam and not been able to play with people who bought the game from walmart. Asinine. "YOU CAN PLAY PC GAMES ONLINE WITH OTHER PC GAMERS." No doi.
That was what I was thinking too. Unless the game is exclusively using Steamworks and Steam servers, you can play it with pretty much any other version purchased.
So I am not too sure how that is a feature.
I wouldn't mind Steam getting some competition but one thing holding them back that I can see is that most major games wont forego DRM to be on it unless it takes over and even then they might just skip it and use their own digital distribution platform, which would be awful since Origin and UPlay have been such marvels.....