The proprietor and managing director of GOG say the shop’s purpose is to not problem and defeat Steam, however to specialize in sure areas and do them higher than Valve’s shopfront.
Final month CD Projekt bought GOG.com to its co-founder Michał Kiciński, who purchased 100% of the shares for PLN 90.7 million ($25.2m).
GOG is concentrated on DRM-free digital video games, together with fashionable releases and the preservation of basic video games, and had operated inside Witcher and Cyberpunk proprietor CD Projekt for over 17 years.
Lately the corporate has championed its Preservation Program, a enterprise designed to make sure that basic video games stay playable on fashionable PCs perpetually, even after their builders have stopped supporting them.
In a brand new interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Kiciński and managing director Maciej Gołębiewski had been requested how GOG hopes to compete towards Steam and its near-monopoly of the PC market.
Kiciński replied that trying to match Steam like-for-like could be a foul thought, as a result of GOG has already established itself as a storefront that goes in a distinct route, due to its concentrate on older video games and its pledge to launch its video games DRM-free.
“GOG has its personal strengths and actually ought to concentrate on sustaining them and even strengthening them,” Kiciński stated. “There isn’t a must attempt to be just like the others. GOG has its personal id and its personal uniqueness, which may be very a lot appreciated by avid gamers.”
Regardless of this, he claimed that Steam “is profitable with its ease of use”, and that in the case of bettering his personal firm’s person expertise he believes “a lot will be executed in GOG with out dropping its core values”.
Gołębiewski added that taking up Steam head-on could be an especially pricey threat, which is why GOG ought to focus extra on being the very best at curating older video games.
“Steam is clearly a Goliath,” he defined, “so for any firm to attempt to deal with Steam is a really onerous battle. We’ve seen Discord launch their retailer, we’ve seen Epic Video games launch their retailer – and due to the lawsuit with Apple, we all know how a lot it has price them to launch this battle towards Steam.
“So the truth that GOG is increasing, growing, and nonetheless kicking, I feel it’s a testomony to the truth that GOG actually has its house available on the market with its mission of creating video games stay perpetually.
“At any time when an organization is attempting to win a market, it wants to simply be higher at a sure section. Within the case of GOG, that’s classics and fashionable classics. Our purpose and our imaginative and prescient is to simply merely present a superior service.
“Steam is doing an superior job, however they’ve totally different values. I’m undecided what their mission is and what they stand for, however definitely we will do extra for traditional retro and fashionable classics by way of accessibility, by way of discoverability. But it surely’s not a contest within the fullest sense, since you don’t need to wrestle with Goliath, proper? You should have a distinct thought.”
The full variety of video games in GOG’s Preservation Program at present stands at 267, with the most recent additions together with Rayman 2, Screamer, Chilly Worry and 4 Complete Conflict collections.
The retailer plans to finally add its complete catalogue of 1000’s of PC video games, although stresses it will take time as every sport requires a distinct course of.
