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PayPalWith the Steam Deck only a few days away from release, it seems people are wondering the support status of other stores. Seems GOG won't be supporting it, which isn't surprising.
Currently, GOG does support Linux with direct downloads, although they only officially support a few versions of Ubuntu. They do not, however, support GOG Galaxy on Linux. This has been a bit of a problem, as some games with multiplayer rely on Galaxy meaning a few Linux builds on GOG came without multiplayer.
Speaking on Twitter, in reply to a YouTuber asking if they will support the Steam Deck they replied:
There's no official GOG support for SteamDeck. But since the device has an open architecture, as we understand, you can install Windows and as such also run GOG games.
They never replied to our email enquiring about it.
Technically, you won't need to do that. GOG Galaxy can run in Wine, although unsupported. On top of that, projects like Minigalaxy exist, Lutris has GOG download support, Bottles has a GOG installer and even Heroic Games Launcher is working on Linux support that's close to release - so there's options available on SteamOS 3 with the Steam Deck to get GOG games. However, Galaxy features are generally locked to their own app.
One reason that's likely GOG aren't working to expand their Linux support to Galaxy and Steam Deck, is that they aren't exactly doing well financially.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: Alm888So, yes, GOG is correct, one will be able to play GOG's amazing library on Steam Deck. Even if the solution is not for said one's taste.Of course you will be able to play your GOG Games on Steam Deck (who had a doubt about that anyway)... if you don't mind fiddling around in Desktop Mode on a tiny screen, with no regular mouse, no dynamic cloud sync, limited controller support (unless you add your games to Steam). No thanks, that's not the OOTB experience I'm looking for.
If GOG wants to profit from the Steam Deck, I would expect them to offer at least some basic integration tools. Installing GOG in its current state on the Steam Deck is like buying a Ferrari and installing a two-stroke engine in it.
Quoting: GuestThe only appeal they have now is to offer DRM free games
I think GOG kinda lost it's way when DRM-free stopped being a thing customers cared about.
When they started, it was a good play. There were a lot more stores and the number of stores was decreasing, so people could be concerned about losing their library if a store closed.
Today, I think people are not worried that a store like Steam will close, or are that worried about DRM in general asuch as they were in the past. I think GOG as a store didn't really figure out how to react to that in a meaningful way and still haven't.
But OK, they do not care for Linux or Linux devices with a fixed configuration like the deck.
So I do not care for them. I can spend my money elsewhere I think....
pleasereadthemanual Feb 21, 2022
Whether this PR spokesperson understands this or not, I couldn't say. Clearly the diplomatic response would have been, "these games have been tested for Ubuntu officially, but they may work on the Steam Deck. We don't know; we haven't tried it."
Quoting: TheRiddickCDPR GOG still upset with Linux user base I see. They NEVER did recover from those Witcher2 threats certain extremists made...
If they really judge a whole community and the Steam Deck customers by the misbehavior of a few toxic people, that would be really weird, wouldn't it?
So I think that is more like a pure business decision mixed with rudeness (...just install Windows)
AussieEevee Feb 22, 2022
Quoting: pleasereadthemanualTechnically, GOG is completely correct. Their native Linux builds don't officially support Arch Linux or the new SteamOS, which is a derivative of that distribution. They support Ubuntu. They can't guarantee support for an OS they've never tested their games for.Is there really enough of a difference between an Arch derivative and an ubuntu one to worry about? I mean, obviously their client isn't going to need the package manager.
pleasereadthemanual Feb 22, 2022
Quoting: AussieEeveeYes, the builds will probably work, but without testing it, there's no way to tell for sure. If they guarantee it works and it doesn't, they'll get backlash, too. Never guarantee things you can't know for sure.Quoting: pleasereadthemanualTechnically, GOG is completely correct. Their native Linux builds don't officially support Arch Linux or the new SteamOS, which is a derivative of that distribution. They support Ubuntu. They can't guarantee support for an OS they've never tested their games for.Is there really enough of a difference between an Arch derivative and an ubuntu one to worry about? I mean, obviously their client isn't going to need the package manager.
As for the differences, core library versions are different for one. If you look at the games on the GOG store, you'll see them tested against specific versions of Ubuntu (12.04 or higher), but Arch doesn't have any versions. They'd have to say something like "glibc 2.34 or newer".
I'm afraid I don't know much more about the innards of these GNU/Linux distributions than that. Older builds of games have been known to stop working after some time, for reasons I'm not entirely sure about. Something about newer glibc versions deprecating older features, maybe (the kernel famously doesn't break userspace; it's the userspace software like glibc that causes breakage). I don't think they do that as much anymore.
For the record, I haven't had any issue with the Linux builds on my Arch laptop.
Quoting: Breizh
quoting this because it's too good to only see twice in this thread. Agree with the general sentiment of most of y'all above me.
Water still wet, bachelors still single, and GOG still totally indifferent to us.
officernice Feb 22, 2022
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