So, GOG.com just got bought out.*

Fortunately, it was purchased by one of its original founders and not,
say, by IGN or some megacorp (as happened with HumbleBundle). So its
unlikely that there will be radical change at the company. Still, its separation from CD Projekt, publisher of the Witcher games and its
former owner, will doubtlessly result in some new policies... and for
a very simple reason.

GOG isn't really profitable. It's been mostly kept alive by CD
Projekt's amazing success with the Witcher and Cyberpunk games. It
isn't (as far as I am aware) running in the red... but its profits are
nearly negligible. It's only one or two bad years from going under...
and now it doesn't have the protection of CD Projekt Red to pull it
back up should it slip beneath the waves.

I like GOG. I own a lot of games from GOG. I think their DRM-free
policy is good for the industry, and good for their customers. I like
that it's one of the few viable competitors to Steam, and together
they formed a bastion against the awful encroachment of
subscription-based gaming. I don't want to see it fail.

But I think its demise just became a little more likely with this
sale.

GOG has always been very niche. Most people just don't care about DRM,
and that policy has cost it a lot of high-profile games because the
publishers were too afraid of piracy to risk selling on the GOG
marketplace without copy-protection. Too, GOG has been a bit behind in
offering features that players wanted (such as chat). It took it ten
years before it finally offered a client (long after Steam, EA,
Ubisoft and Battlenet). It just wasn't a destination most gamers were interested in visiting.

Case in point: only about 10% of the sales of "Cyberpunk 2077" were
made on GOG. Far more games were sold on Steam and on consoles. GOG is
an afterthought to most people. It's not a valuable property; CD
Projekt sold it for a pittance ($25million USD) because it isn't
really viable without an influx of money.

So, cool; GOG hasn't been sold to a mega-corp that will totally
destroy everything that made the storefront so noteworthy. But at the
same time, it's not like its really separate from CD Projekt; its new
owner is still one of the publishers chair people. It's more of a
reshuffling of the deck chairs, a way to ensure that the publisher is
no longer weighed down by the potential wreck that is GOG.

I hope GOG survives somehow. But I fear we may be witnessing the
beginning of its end.






* announcement https://www.gog.com/blog/gog-is-getting-acquired-by-its-original-co-founder-what-it-means-for-you/


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 1/2/2026 6:11 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

So, GOG.com just got bought out.*

Fortunately, it was purchased by one of its original founders and not,
say, by IGN or some megacorp (as happened with HumbleBundle). So its
unlikely that there will be radical change at the company. Still, its separation from CD Projekt, publisher of the Witcher games and its
former owner, will doubtlessly result in some new policies... and for
a very simple reason.

GOG isn't really profitable. It's been mostly kept alive by CD
Projekt's amazing success with the Witcher and Cyberpunk games. It
isn't (as far as I am aware) running in the red... but its profits are
nearly negligible. It's only one or two bad years from going under...
and now it doesn't have the protection of CD Projekt Red to pull it
back up should it slip beneath the waves.

I like GOG. I own a lot of games from GOG. I think their DRM-free
policy is good for the industry, and good for their customers. I like
that it's one of the few viable competitors to Steam, and together
they formed a bastion against the awful encroachment of
subscription-based gaming. I don't want to see it fail.

But I think its demise just became a little more likely with this
sale.

GOG has always been very niche. Most people just don't care about DRM,
and that policy has cost it a lot of high-profile games because the publishers were too afraid of piracy to risk selling on the GOG
marketplace without copy-protection. Too, GOG has been a bit behind in offering features that players wanted (such as chat). It took it ten
years before it finally offered a client (long after Steam, EA,
Ubisoft and Battlenet). It just wasn't a destination most gamers were interested in visiting.

Case in point: only about 10% of the sales of "Cyberpunk 2077" were
made on GOG. Far more games were sold on Steam and on consoles. GOG is
an afterthought to most people. It's not a valuable property; CD
Projekt sold it for a pittance ($25million USD) because it isn't
really viable without an influx of money.

So, cool; GOG hasn't been sold to a mega-corp that will totally
destroy everything that made the storefront so noteworthy. But at the
same time, it's not like its really separate from CD Projekt; its new
owner is still one of the publishers chair people. It's more of a
reshuffling of the deck chairs, a way to ensure that the publisher is
no longer weighed down by the potential wreck that is GOG.

I hope GOG survives somehow. But I fear we may be witnessing the
beginning of its end.

* announcement https://www.gog.com/blog/gog-is-getting-acquired-by-its-original-co-founder-what-it-means-for-you/

I think the core idea of GOG was always the "play old games just like
the old times" thing. Branching out into modern games is maybe not what
they really need anyway.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 1/2/2026 9:11 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

So, GOG.com just got bought out.*

Fortunately, it was purchased by one of its original founders and not,
say, by IGN or some megacorp (as happened with HumbleBundle). So its
unlikely that there will be radical change at the company. Still, its separation from CD Projekt, publisher of the Witcher games and its
former owner, will doubtlessly result in some new policies... and for
a very simple reason.

GOG isn't really profitable. It's been mostly kept alive by CD
Projekt's amazing success with the Witcher and Cyberpunk games. It
isn't (as far as I am aware) running in the red... but its profits are
nearly negligible. It's only one or two bad years from going under...
and now it doesn't have the protection of CD Projekt Red to pull it
back up should it slip beneath the waves.

I like GOG. I own a lot of games from GOG. I think their DRM-free
policy is good for the industry, and good for their customers. I like
that it's one of the few viable competitors to Steam, and together
they formed a bastion against the awful encroachment of
subscription-based gaming. I don't want to see it fail.

But I think its demise just became a little more likely with this
sale.

GOG has always been very niche. Most people just don't care about DRM,
and that policy has cost it a lot of high-profile games because the publishers were too afraid of piracy to risk selling on the GOG
marketplace without copy-protection. Too, GOG has been a bit behind in offering features that players wanted (such as chat). It took it ten
years before it finally offered a client (long after Steam, EA,
Ubisoft and Battlenet). It just wasn't a destination most gamers were interested in visiting.

Case in point: only about 10% of the sales of "Cyberpunk 2077" were
made on GOG. Far more games were sold on Steam and on consoles. GOG is
an afterthought to most people. It's not a valuable property; CD
Projekt sold it for a pittance ($25million USD) because it isn't
really viable without an influx of money.

So, cool; GOG hasn't been sold to a mega-corp that will totally
destroy everything that made the storefront so noteworthy. But at the
same time, it's not like its really separate from CD Projekt; its new
owner is still one of the publishers chair people. It's more of a
reshuffling of the deck chairs, a way to ensure that the publisher is
no longer weighed down by the potential wreck that is GOG.

I hope GOG survives somehow. But I fear we may be witnessing the
beginning of its end.

Oof. Guess I need to buy a new HD and download everything I have on it.
I'm not sure I can be bothered, but I do have Cyberpunk, and the
Witcher games on it, and everything else that wasn't at a huge
difference in price.


--
-Justisaur

?-?
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
?ª'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Fri, 02 Jan 2026 12:11:13 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

I hope GOG survives somehow. But I fear we may be witnessing the
beginning of its end.

I agree.

I won't miss GOG too much if they go. My GOG games are backed up twice
over and I already purchased all the old games I wanted from them.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Fri, 02 Jan 2026 12:11:13 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

Just a followup:

There's an interesting article/interview with Kicinski --GOG's
new(ish) owner-- that goes into more detail about the purchase. You
can read it here: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/the-new-owner-of-gog-discusses-taking-on-steam-the-devil-of-drm-and-following-in-nightdives-footsteps

It includes a brief history of the company, some details on the sale,
and some ideas for the future. Nothing too solid (I mean, it's mainly
a puff piece intended, I think, to court investors) but there was one interesting fact:

I wrote:

GOG isn't really profitable.

And the article above confirms:

"Looking at the numbers, GOG has never been a big breadwinner
for CDPR. In the first half of 2025, it recorded a net
profitability of -0.9%, compared to 35% for the CD Projekt
group as a whole. It was a similar story for the 2024
financial year, when GOG recorded net profitability of
0.6%, while the overall group posted profitability of 47.7%."

GOG is barely breaking even. Which seems really odd, given that I
can't imagine its costs are that high. This implies that sales are
really low on the storefront.

Kicinski suggests this is because CD Projekt was prioritizing
resources toward its own software development rather than building up
GOG... but I think that's wishful thinking. GOG doesn't really need
much building up. It's built. People just aren't interested in what
it's selling. Which is terrible, but that seems to be the truth. I'm
not sure how disengaging from the CD Projekt money-umbilical is going
to help GOG.





--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)