GOG did a little upgrade to their user reviews system

I recently tried GOG Galaxy on Steam Deck with NonSteamLaunchers, but it wasn't a great experience, the games were crashing, store itself is missing gamepad support and it's not great to use it in general.

In the past I also tried Heroic Games Launcher, but the GOG games had so many issues (for example not finding gamepad, even when the game supported it) I just gave up on using it on Steam Deck.

It would be nice if the GOG just started using the work Steam does for Linux and improved their own tooling thanks to that, for now I rather buy games on Steam just because of the support they give to Linux. I actually wonder, given that they are promoting DRM free games, that they don't target Linux as main platform. Because if somebody is interested in DRM free, they will probably not use Windows at all.

Not a single buck to GOG to this date because there is NO official Linux support. Zoom Platform has much more passion for their mission already with an official Linux client.

"Tool to streamline installation, updating, and playing Windows games from ZOOM Platform on Linux using umu and Proton.

The script also helps you run our Windows installers on Linux and comes with some handy features to make sure the process goes smoothly.

That includes safety checks, handling updates, installing DLCs, creating desktop entries, a simple uninstaller, and of course automatically applying protonfixes."

Highly recommended https://www.zoom-platform.com [External Link]

Because if somebody is interested in DRM free, they will probably not use Windows at all.

Disclaimer: I worked at GOG.com until 6-7 years ago.

You would be surprised! It is illogical to me as well but Windows is prevalent on GOG.com, just like everywhere else in the gaming world.

Still, the Linux community did a bang up job to add Linux support by themselves with projects such as GOGDL, Comet, Minigalaxy, Lutris, innoextract, and of course, Heroic Games Launcher. I might be forgetting some others.

The fact that these solutions are not actively blocked by GOG.com is... something, I guess.

Back in my times there was definitely awareness of the community-ran third party tools inside of the company. Especially all the tech people responsible for games, their delivery, and customer support did not want to break any compatibility with those tools.

But the approach towards the official Linux support from the shot callers was dismissive on the grounds of the low number of customers.

But the approach towards the official Linux support from the shot callers was dismissive on the grounds of the low number of customers.

I totally understand that. Not every company has got the bags of money Valve seems to have.

@dziadulewicz I didn't know that Zoom Platform had this. Good on them! Plus Bernie Stolar is dead (he was my only gripe with them). lol

(He was anti-2D games at SCEA and helped kill the Sega Saturn at Sega of America afterwards...)

Really glad to see them learning to incorporate the world around them. Linux isn't dominant yet but I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see a massive upsurge in Linux communities with the next purchases.

Intel, NVIDIA, Microsoft all seem to be shaping themselves into a weird homogeneous cross-compatibility love child that mandates you give them full control/access to your entire system all so you can play a quick round of Solitaire. The level of overreach and requirements is becoming untenable.

Not everyone can maintain new and bleeding edge technology. Not everyone wants to and they shouldn't have to.

As a developer, I can't imagine designing a tool/application that is exclusively Windows in today's markets. The idea of a Linux-user being some basement dwelling greybeards compiling their own everything and arguing about the latest mouse drivers - isn't really a modern thing.

Spoiler, click me

Sure they exist, but we shave! And the basement is finished, and has an easement window that lets in a lot of sunlight!

Overall I think this is a good move. I'm hopeful with this and other news articles that the triple-a studios and bigger-box companies are beginning to care more about this audience.