GOG shares their thoughts on preservation in the face of payment processor crackdowns

"Every crippled that disappears from organisation is perchance mislaid to crippled preservation efforts."

In wide these days it's ne'er a bully clip to merchandise a video crippled unless you're Rockstar, but successful caller months it's been made adjacent harder owed to galore outgo processors cracking down connected integer storefronts similar Valve and Itch.io. There's a big of reasons this is problematic, but 1 little spoken astir however this is besides an contented of preservation. GOG, different integer storefront, this 1 owned by The Witcher developer CD Projekt, is known for their preservation efforts, and successful a caller interrogation they shared a spot of their thoughts successful narration to these caller issues regarding outgo processors.

When asked astir GOG's stance connected what's been happening with outgo processors successful caller months successful an interrogation with Automaton, elder PR rep Piotr Gnyp had this to say: "At GOG, arsenic a level devoted to Good Old Games and video crippled preservation, we spot it arsenic a crippled preservation issue. Every year, galore games are disappearing, for assorted reasons. Every crippled that disappears from organisation is perchance mislaid to crippled preservation efforts. It is peculiarly worrying erstwhile games are perchance vanishing owed to outer pressure."

While perchance not rather arsenic beardown oregon assured an reply arsenic I mightiness similar - aft all, GOG has plentifulness of reasons to beryllium wary of pissing disconnected these aforesaid outgo processors - determination is thing worthy honing successful on.

Steam and Itch.io are evidently not immoderate benignant of beauteous integer landscapes wherever games go hits aft hits, some are overmuch excessively saturated for that to happen. Plus, a bulk of games connected Steam are not DRM-free, meaning they necessitate a transportation to the storefront successful question successful bid to beryllium played. Most games connected Itch and GOG are DRM-free, however.

The contented comes from the information that, unfortunately, developers are forced into relying connected third-party platforms to merchantability their games. It is incredibly hard to archer idiosyncratic to travel to your dedicated website to bargain your game, and that lone works insofar that you've recovered a outgo processor to usage that allows thing similar an big game.

So what happens to these games erstwhile they person nary spot to telephone a home? How bash we guarantee that they proceed to beryllium available, erstwhile they mightiness beryllium hosted connected the developer's idiosyncratic website, which successful immoderate cases fewer radical mightiness beryllium alert of? It's a hard question to answer.

In this aforesaid interview, Gnyp notes that GOG is simply a "curated storefront," continuing connected to explicate that this means "not each crippled submitted to america is accepted - we prime titles based connected quality, relevance, and alignment with our values and audience." Again, that enactment astir values feels similar it could beryllium a spot of a bull out, but the thought of curation is 1 worthy exploring. It's not a cleanable solution, though it could beryllium 1 mode to astatine slightest support immoderate facet of these unfairly shunned works alive. The question becomes however to bash this, and close now, I'm inactive figuring it out, for myself astatine least.