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GOG Takes On Steam’s Early Access With New 'Games In Development' Section

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GOG is adding another service to its digital marketplace called “Games in Development.” In some ways, it’s similar to Steam’s Early Access section, but there are a few differences in GOG’s offering.

In terms of what games are allowed in the new section, the company promised that “the most promising titles, and those most highly requested on the Community Wishlist” only will make its way to Games In Development. This ensures that each game is worth your time, even in its early stages.

As the game continues its development cycle, new updates will arrive periodically, but they could potentially break your current game state. However, GOG allows you to roll back to a game’s previous version if you want to keep playing. Then, you can just wait for the next stable update that won’t ruin your overall progress.

If, for any reason, you don’t like the game after a few sessions, you can return it and get a refund within a 14-day period after purchase. This gives you enough time to play the game and see if it’s worth the price. If you don’t think it shows any future potential, you can ask for your money back without any questions.

This issue of a refund continues to be a sore subject on Early Access, where some players poured money into projects that never made it to version 1.0. As a result, fans felt cheated out of an investment, as they can’t get their money back, and the game is unfinished.

At the moment, five games are available on Games in Development: Starbound, Ashes of the Singularity, Project Zomboid, TerraTech and The Curious Expedition. More games are bound to come soon, but it might take some time, as GOG’s selection process might take longer compared to Steam.

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12 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Gam3r01
    "Most promising"
    Starbound and Project Zomboid have been around for at least a year now. Starbound for longer.
    These games, while listed as in development, really arent anymore. They should be considered full titles receiving updates. Too many titles use this as an excuse for poor updates, poor reception, or lack of interest *cough* rust *cough*
    Reply
  • dstarr3
    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
    Reply
  • Oldbutstillatit
    Dean Hall recommended Project Zomboid or whatever it's called. For that alone I'll NEVER play the game or allow it to be played on my or any of my families computers.
    Reply
  • JackNaylorPE
    GoG >>>>>>>>>>>> Steam

    Reply
  • dstarr3
    I think what makes Early Access "convenient" on Steam is because it's so easy to stay up to date. Just leave Steam open all day, if the devs push an update, it's automatically done, probably without you even realizing. Awesome. That's great if the devs are pushing out an update something like once a week.

    GOG doesn't really have this convenience yet, really. The Galaxy client isn't really up to snuff yet, which means having to get these updates is manual and pretty tedious. And considering the whole Early Access concept is really a pretty terrible idea, I'd just rather not.
    Reply
  • JackNaylorPE
    I see it as an intrusion rather than a convenience... as the subject article notes, updates go wrong and you can be screwed. Steam is to gaming what Win 10 is to OSs. The fact that it provides this "convenience" is the very reason many people choose GoG.

    Witcher 3 Steam users got their saved games borked when patch came out.
    GoG users, except for the early adopters, were able to avoid that bad patch and wait the 2-3 days it took to get a patch to the patch.

    Like w/ Windows Updates, I always wait a few days after an update is available and check the usual sites for any repercussions before applying. The 3 advantages I see are:

    1. Updates occur only when I say so.
    2. As in the last storm when we lost internet service, GoG users can still play w/o internet connection.
    3. No DRM issues.

    Regarding 3, FC turned out to be too much for my son's lappie so he installed on my machine where he is a user.... had so many problems he got a refund. I later purchased it from GoG, and played myself, no problems.
    Reply
  • alidan
    "Most promising"
    Starbound and Project Zomboid have been around for at least a year now. Starbound for longer.
    These games, while listed as in development, really arent anymore. They should be considered full titles receiving updates. Too many titles use this as an excuse for poor updates, poor reception, or lack of interest *cough* rust *cough*

    i cant speed for project zomboid as i own it however, i don't like survival enough to play it constantly so i don't know how much it changes from build to build.

    starbound, has completely changed 4 times so far, to the point its like i played 4 different games with the same base artstyle. that game is clearly not ready.


    I think what makes Early Access "convenient" on Steam is because it's so easy to stay up to date. Just leave Steam open all day, if the devs push an update, it's automatically done, probably without you even realizing. Awesome. That's great if the devs are pushing out an update something like once a week.

    GOG doesn't really have this convenience yet, really. The Galaxy client isn't really up to snuff yet, which means having to get these updates is manual and pretty tedious. And considering the whole Early Access concept is really a pretty terrible idea, I'd just rather not.

    personally i would rather be able to selectively update games, there are so many i would willingly chose to have an older patch than a newer one, like in the case of starbound, i dont like the most recent changes they made to how the game is played, i would have rather stayed on an older build.

    but no, i cant launch a game unless its 100% up to date or else.

    Reply
  • dstarr3
    17405649 said:
    personally i would rather be able to selectively update games, there are so many i would willingly chose to have an older patch than a newer one, like in the case of starbound, i dont like the most recent changes they made to how the game is played, i would have rather stayed on an older build.

    but no, i cant launch a game unless its 100% up to date or else.

    Can you not turn off automatic updates for Early Access games? And what happens if you start a game when Steam is in offline mode?
    Reply
  • cats_Paw
    Ha Ha Ha,no.
    Reply
  • pmarceau
    Wow never expected to be rooting for GOG, but steam, well it does what steam does, blows.
    As long as they do not come out with an application or anything called MAGOG.
    Steam has automated everything to the extent, I have not seen with my own eyes, but have been told by adding certain files Steam acts as if you bought the game. And since all computer automated they never catch it.
    All they care about it making money.

    My Solution, Whenever you can Go with GOG, even if it costs you 5 more dollars. I wouldn't go much further.
    Unless they come out with anything called MAGOG, hehe
    Reply