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PayPalAI continues to be everywhere, and now it's appearing on the GOG store too most recently a big banner for their New Year Sale. In related news: GOG recently launched the GOG Patrons program to support them directly to revive classic games, and then they were acquired by one of the original co-founders.
More recent related news is that they're even looking to bring GOG Galaxy to Linux (finally!) with a new job opening - that link is quite relevant here now too since it notes one of the responsibilities is to "Actively use and promote AI-assisted development tools", and so this news could further derail a lot of good-will for GOG from customers to game developers.
A post on Reddit I spotted pointed out there seemed to be some AI generation on the GOG store page, and when you look at it properly - there's a lot of issues with it. Like how the console is just melting. Also a bit of an odd choice anyway, since they're a PC store - why feature a clearly Nintendo-styled old console? Here's the image currently in question:
One of the GOG team "KosmicznaPluskwa" ended up replying on the official GOG forum, with quite a wall of text styled ramble noting they're not a company spokesperson but they're replying on this "because I personally want to", and just before the rant they did confirm clearly "OK, so to clear the air - current sale banner is fully AI. Not my work. This is all I can say on this". As for their ramble, they clearly feel pretty strongly on this, so perhaps GOG are going to see some internal pushback on this.
I'll copy the end of their little ramble because it felt important:
Maybe it doesn't matter some store put out sloppy work on promo banner - in the end everyone is just there to buy the product - but I know I enjoy seeing cool new artworks out there, when I'm out to buy new products as well. When I buy a new cool figure I like to keep the box around if it's pretty - this is kind of the same, but on digital level. More cool art to see on top of buying art (video games in our case here) is always more cool art in the world and this is what I'm happy to have. So with everyone also feeling strongly in this thread - I'm with you. And continue speaking up - in the face of future we don't like to see, complacency is not the way.
Regardless of any thoughts on it one thing remains clear - the more AI generation is used for the little things "it's just this, it's just that!" - the more it will be accepted, and the more it will replace actual people. We'll see less actual art, less real intentional character in what we see - and more slop with melting consoles.
Not the best look for GOG. When you're a smaller store, one that has clearly struggled in the past, this kind of cost-cutting by replacing artists and marketing people with AI generation is probably not going to go over too well with the wider gaming community.
GOG have been contacted for a statement, I will update if they reply.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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apocalyptech 2 hours ago
Use of AI Tools was listed as mandatory, whereas familiarity with CI/CD was only a "plus."
There have been a lot of complaints levelled at gog.com over the years and I've always felt compelled to defend them. I'm feeling an awful lot less likely to do so lately, though.
Last edited by apocalyptech on 28 Jan 2026 at 3:43 pm UTC
Regardless of any thoughts on it one thing remains clear - the more AI generation is used for the little things "it's just this, it's just that!" - the more it will be accepted, and the more it will replace actual people. We'll see less actual art, less real intentional character in what we see - and more slop with melting consoles.Gotta be real with you, this sounds hollow when you constantly promote ARC Raiders. Regardless of wether or not the actors signed off on it, there's nothing in there that needed it and it's just a severe cost cutting measure that'll lead to lower quality voice work the more accepted it is.
Liam Dawe 2 hours ago
Quoting: eevI'm still going to report on things as they evolve with generative AI, regardless of my feelings - that's the point of that.Regardless of any thoughts on it one thing remains clear - the more AI generation is used for the little things "it's just this, it's just that!" - the more it will be accepted, and the more it will replace actual people. We'll see less actual art, less real intentional character in what we see - and more slop with melting consoles.Gotta be real with you, this sounds hollow when you constantly promote ARC Raiders. Regardless of wether or not the actors signed off on it, there's nothing in there that needed it and it's just a severe cost cutting measure that'll lead to lower quality voice work the more accepted it is.
Kimyrielle 2 hours ago
apocalyptech 2 hours ago
Quoting: suchIt's GOG. What profits?I mean honestly it's possible that's at the root of the issue here. I actually have no idea what GOG's financials are like, but if they have historically struggled to turn a profit, latching onto the "AI" bandwagon is an unsurprising move, at least. The suits tend to see modern generative systems as a shortcut to Increased Productivity™ and they might just be assuming that this is the magical tech that's gonna turn a struggling company into a thriving one.
Whether that's true or not in either the short or long term is another question entirely, but if that's the thought process over there, then it's at least an understandable pivot.
officernice 1 hour ago
Quoting: apocalyptechI disagree in that not paying for a few pieces of art isn't a proper saving, just one you report to particularly... challenged management to get them off your back. That goes triple if you're generating this much negative sentiment. That can have more of a sales impact than your sales banner.Quoting: suchIt's GOG. What profits?I mean honestly it's possible that's at the root of the issue here. I actually have no idea what GOG's financials are like, but if they have historically struggled to turn a profit, latching onto the "AI" bandwagon is an unsurprising move, at least. The suits tend to see modern generative systems as a shortcut to Increased Productivity™ and they might just be assuming that this is the magical tech that's gonna turn a struggling company into a thriving one.
Whether that's true or not in either the short or long term is another question entirely, but if that's the thought process over there, then it's at least an understandable pivot.
Unless GOG are playing 5D chess and doing this as part of a coordinated effort to boost visibility. Who knows anymore. I'll take my tinfoil hat off now.
apocalyptech 1 hour ago
Quoting: suchI disagree in that not paying for a few pieces of art isn't a proper saving, just one you report to particularly... challenged management to get them off your back. That goes triple if you're generating this much negative sentiment. That can have more of a sales impact than your sales banner.Oh sure, I was honestly more referring to the other indications that they're going all-in on AI (such as that quote from the job posting that I'd pasted above). Having generative images as banners on the site is, I'm guessing, just the tip of the iceberg.
If someone felt they needed an image to describe their sale, they should have put some effort into it. Just look at how Steam handled this. People are still attached to a random sales mascot character way after it ended. If you can't be bothered to make something, as other pointed out, a collage of game art or a plain text message will do the job just fine. And won't attract the ire of people that are seriously getting tired of this shit.
If the goal is to pander to people that absolutely *crave* AI
As I see it, it's either "harmless" but normalizing such abuse of the tech, or downright disrespectful to people that wanted to support GoG.
Bad move.
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