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PayPalWith Linux gaming clearly showing it's becoming more popular, and with GOG under new ownership, there's hope yet that GOG will improve their Linux support.
GOG does currently support Linux — well, kind of. They publish Native Linux packages for various games, which depends on the developer (just like Steam does without Proton) but they have a very limited support of distributions, which can cause problems installing Linux games from GOG due to dependency mess. That, and GOG Galaxy does not support Linux.
There's easier ways to install games from GOG on Linux / SteamOS though, which you can check out in our GamingOnLinux Guide. You can even do it directly in Steam if you want to.
Things may change though, as of course you don't buy an entire store if you're not going to keep up with the industry. Speaking to PC Gamer, Maciej Gołębiewski the managing director of GOG mentioned in reply to a question about Linux that it's "one of the things that we've put in our strategy for this year to look closer at" Gołębiewski continued "I don't want to commit to any specifics, but certainly you will see this trend, and we also see that Linux is close to the hearts of our users, so we probably could do better on that front, and that's something that we'll be looking at".
New GOG owner Michał Kiciński also mentioned in regards to Windows how "It's such poor-quality software and product, and I'm so surprised that it's [spent] so many years on the market. I can't believe it!".
So, perhaps 2026 or 2027 will see GOG's Linux support get better. One can hope. All stores need proper competition, that includes Steam - it's just better for all of us.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
About the author - Liam Dawe
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly.
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The important part is the builds.
Too many of them depend on libraries that are no longer available in modern Linux Distros.
Also i think they should get rid of that weird shellscript installer that has an archive wrapped in a .sh file.
I also like to see one general gog script interpreter shipped by galaxy that executes allt changes after the game updates instead of each game shipping its own temporary copy. Doesn't work well with firewalls on all operation systems.
Too many of them depend on libraries that are no longer available in modern Linux Distros.
Also i think they should get rid of that weird shellscript installer that has an archive wrapped in a .sh file.
I also like to see one general gog script interpreter shipped by galaxy that executes allt changes after the game updates instead of each game shipping its own temporary copy. Doesn't work well with firewalls on all operation systems.
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Caldathras 16 hours ago
Quoting: LoftyQuoting: CaldathrasWhile I've gotten used to their DRM-free script-based Linux installers, I would love it if they moved the Linux offline installers to AppImage, with all of the dependencies incorporated.eh, appimage isn't really the 'container format' that it seems to have initially been sold as. In many cases there are system dependencies and linked libraries that as per linux will get updated to a point where by the appimage cannot work at all, which then requires a full appimage refresh & update. it is also not sandboxed without firejail.
( anecdote incoming: i thought i was archiving programs originally, turns out 6 months is a long time in software, my favorite appimage was just a grey empt box with a gtk crash handler message.. and this was on linux mint not exact a rolling release.)
Now flatpak .. That is much more inline with a kind of 'bottled' instance of software, it too also needing to remain somewhat in step with the system but it has some other benefits of better system integration & is sandboxed. Plus flathub / flatpak is becoming the de-facto distro agnostic software distribution method so there is consistency of support via popularity.
imo ofc
Strange, I don't think I've ever had that issue happen to an AppImage, unless it was caused by AppImagelauncher being out of date -- then I've had all sorts of problems. In my opinion, if that happens to an AppImage, the packager is not doing their job correctly. By the way, I can testify from first-hand experience that this can happen with flatpak packages as well. Neither packaging system is perfect.
My problem with flatpak is, as I understand it, you basically end up with an installer that is dependent on the flatpak system to install. To my knowledge, you cannot back it up easily (in manner readily accessible to a basic user) and you need to be online to install it. It is not stored on your system but on a server somewhere on the Internet. If that server goes down -- or you no longer have Internet access (for whatever reason) -- you cannot install the game.
Whereas, the whole point behind GOG's offline installers is that they are self-contained and DRM-free offline installers. To me, the AppImage format fits the bill -- with the ability to include all dependencies, if done correctly. Certainly, some maintenance on GOG's part over time will be necessary. And, heck, even the Windows offline installers are sometimes missing dependencies and need updating (although GOG's Preservation Program is improving on that).
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Quoting: CaldathrasAll fair points. I think neither are perfect.Quoting: LoftyQuoting: CaldathrasWhile I've gotten used to their DRM-free script-based Linux installers, I would love it if they moved the Linux offline installers to AppImage, with all of the dependencies incorporated.eh, appimage isn't really the 'container format' that it seems to have initially been sold as. In many cases there are system dependencies and linked libraries that as per linux will get updated to a point where by the appimage cannot work at all, which then requires a full appimage refresh & update. it is also not sandboxed without firejail.
( anecdote incoming: i thought i was archiving programs originally, turns out 6 months is a long time in software, my favorite appimage was just a grey empt box with a gtk crash handler message.. and this was on linux mint not exact a rolling release.)
Now flatpak .. That is much more inline with a kind of 'bottled' instance of software, it too also needing to remain somewhat in step with the system but it has some other benefits of better system integration & is sandboxed. Plus flathub / flatpak is becoming the de-facto distro agnostic software distribution method so there is consistency of support via popularity.
imo ofc
Strange, I don't think I've ever had that issue happen to an AppImage, unless it was caused by AppImagelauncher being out of date -- then I've had all sorts of problems. In my opinion, if that happens to an AppImage, the packager is not doing their job correctly. By the way, I can testify from first-hand experience that this can happen with flatpak packages as well. Neither packaging system is perfect.
My problem with flatpak is, as I understand it, you basically end up with an installer that is dependent on the flatpak system to install. To my knowledge, you cannot back it up easily (in manner readily accessible to a basic user) and you need to be online to install it. It is not stored on your system but on a server somewhere on the Internet. If that server goes down -- or you no longer have Internet access (for whatever reason) -- you cannot install the game.
Whereas, the whole point behind GOG's offline installers is that they are self-contained and DRM-free offline installers. To me, the AppImage format fits the bill -- with the ability to include all dependencies, if done correctly. Certainly, some maintenance on GOG's part over time will be necessary. And, heck, even the Windows offline installers are sometimes missing dependencies and need updating (although GOG's Preservation Program is improving on that).
Im not an expert but if you take a look at emulation you can see a that pretty much those games are now theoretically playable for all time .. but then again the caveat is that if you try boot an emulator with an out of date flatpak libraries or an appimage that is not built correctly you have the same problem.
A weird solution would be to build a Retro gaming PC that is offline and remains static in it's updates that is able to play all your favorite windows / console retro games. For newer titles a main upto date PC would of course be needed.
There is no perfect solution tbf. But i do prefer the system of flapak and it's easy configuration of permissions + integration with software centers for the latest features.
Last edited by Lofty on 16 Jan 2026 at 6:26 pm UTC
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