Quoting: Alm888Got any proof? Some Licence Agreement scans? Or, are you one of Valve employees and has explicit right to speak on behalf of Valve? And in this case the original developer had already desided do release the game DRM-free, but Feral is of different opinion on the matter.

I've heard before, that Valve don't require exclusivity, but I doubt this info can be proven through public sources. In general, only Valve's own titles appear to be hard Steam exclusives, many are developers' own choice to make them so, according to developers themselves. For instance Croteam.

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Quoting: MblackwellTo be fair, from experience GOG controls every aspect of your release. They control the store page (images, text, etc), the sales, even the packaging - you send them files and they decide how it is packaged and distributed. Betas can be effectively impossible, and updated versions can take arbitrary amounts of time to be built and put online once sent.

Along with a few other things I can't talk about, I can see why some developers wouldn't bother.

In this sense, itch.io is an interesting alternative which gives a lot of freedom to developers, including doing anything they want with betas and in-development versions, and it's DRM-free too. So the above is not an excuse to avoid DRM-free releases.

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Quoting: GuestTry as you might, there's nothing to indicate Feral's DRM stance one way or another.

If that's not clear still, I'll repeat but one last time, since I said it several times already. If Feral have an issue with GOG in particular, they can release the game through other means DRM-free, smaller companies than them do it just fine, it's not an insurmountable task. Feral aren't interested. Argue all you want, but until I'll see their games DRM-free anywhere, I'll consider them being pro-DRM.

Quoting: GuestIn fact, if Feral even talked to GOG, that indicates Feral are ok without DRM - they have to be, if they're willing to even talk to GOG.

Talks in such case are initiated by GOG, since GOG naturally don't like making crippled releases. GOG Linux team said so explicitly. But talks didn't lead anywhere as we can see.

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Quoting: Crazy PenguinMany missing Linux Builds of Games on GOG!

Isn't it exactly the point? Feral's build is missing in this case, because of Feral.

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Quoting: LinasWhy is everybody so up in arms about publishers not putting their games on GOG?

GOG is the biggest DRM-free store that's why it's often discussed, but I'm OK with publishers releasing it anywhere DRM-free. Do they? Some do, but many don't, like Feral themselves.

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Regarding people's private sources, I so far saw these:

* https://www.gamingonlinux.com/forum/topic/3262/post_id=15363
* https://www.gog.com/forum/general/release_xcom_enemy_unknown_complete_pack_93823/post74 [External Link]

And again, motivation here is secondary to the actual outcome.

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Quoting: liamdaweUnless you can back that up, you're just spreading FUD about one of the biggest pushers of popular Linux games which isn't a good look dude.

I can't back up what others said, it's their word against anything else, but in practice it makes zero difference, you can bring many reasons but Feral don't want to release DRM-free in any fashion, not just on GOG. So it makes them pro-DRM, if not ideologically, then practically.

Being a pusher of Linux releases is not an excuse for being pro-DRM.

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Quoting: liamdaweFeral have never even hinted at liking DRM

Several people said they did, but privately. Few companies publicly speak about it, since the topic is toxic and PR departments fear it. So far I see no indication that Feral are not pro-DRM, everything indicates the opposite.

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Quoting: GuestYou are drawing conclusions from lack of information

We have enough information. Feral make decisions where to release the game. It's not available DRM-free now and Feral don't want to change that. I think it's more than enough for DRM-free users to evaluate their attitude. You can argue about their motives which can be many, but as I said, the result matters in the end.

You can use the search function on the GOG forum using different keywords. Here is an example: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/release_xcom_enemy_unknown_complete_pack_93823?search=tremere110 [External Link]

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Quoting: GuestDoes xcom on windows run without steam, if bought via steam? I guess from your words that the gog version had something removed to be able to be on gog. That is a blocker here.

I'm not familiar with differences between versions, or whether the game has multiplayer to begin with. I only saw someone saying that there is no multiplayer in the GOG release, so lack of Galaxy isn't the issue here (it is sometimes an issue with other games). Plus, Feral aren't some amateurs, that they can't make multiplayer optional.

Anyway, you can think DRM isn't the reason, but it doesn't make any difference in practice, as I said, Feral games aren't available DRM-free and Feral clearly don't want to do anything about it. And dodgy attitude is the usual PR tactic to avoid discussing a thorny topic.

For related GOG discussion, see here [External Link].

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