If you’re a fan of classic PC games and/or you prefer your modern titles without any form of DRM, I’m willing to bet you’re at least somewhat familiar with a digital storefront by the name of GOG. GOG has gained a significant amount of notoriety and respect as a direct result of the various aspects of its business philosophy.

For example, the site started out as a storefront from which you could purchase updated versions of classic games which will run on modern computers and operating systems with as few issues as possible. In addition to that, the site adheres to what its “About” page refers to as a, “You buy it, You own it,” business model.

Virtually every game available on GOG completely lacks DRM. This means that, as a customer, you “won’t be locked out of titles you paid for or constantly asked to prove you own them.” I’m sure you can imagine why this business philosophy has gained as much attention and respect as it has over the course of GOG’s existence.

Although you can directly download and launch each game you purchase from GOG without the need for a launcher, GOG also offers a launcher and game client for customers who prefer to use one. This launcher is known as GOG Galaxy, and it offers several features which compete with those present in the Steam client.

To name a few examples, Galaxy’s most recent non-beta update introduced such features as cloud save synchronizing for games which support it, the ability to take and save screenshots in supported games, and online chat functionality if someone on your friends list is playing a game, browsing the client’s store, or on the main GOG website.

Of course, Steam has had these and virtually every other feature new to Galaxy for quite some time, but I still think it’s nice to see that GOG is working steadily to make substantial improvements to the Galaxy client. In my personal case, it’s nice to know I might be able to sync my save data of older games to GOG’s cloud so that I don’t lose any progress.

The idea of GOG working steadily to improve its Galaxy client leads me to the topic I’d like to discuss today. The GOG team recently announced what appears to be a massive update and near-total overhaul of the Galaxy client, which they’re calling “GOG Galaxy 2.0”. This update is currently still in closed beta, but you can sign up to potentially be invited to the beta here, so long as you have an existing GOG account.

The GOG team has detailed quite a few features that are planned to be added over the course of Galaxy 2.0’s development. In fact, so many specific new features have been announced that I’ve found myself of two minds about how things could turn out, once Galaxy 2.0 is fully available.

On one hand, I commend GOG for its commitment to improving the Galaxy client to such a degree as the team appears to be planning with the Galaxy 2.0 update. On the other hand, though, I think this overhaul of the Galaxy client, and the number of new features planned to be included therein, may prove to be a bit too ambitious.

From what I’ve been able to learn about Galaxy 2.0 thus far, it seems that the majority of updates announced for the client can be neatly summarized by the word “consolidation.” That idea especially applies to the biggest planned feature that has managed to attract the most attention from gaming media outlets.

In light of that, I think that particular feature is as good a starting point as any for today’s discussion. To elaborate, according to the beta announcement page for Galaxy 2.0, the GOG team intends to allow players to import all of their digital games into the Galaxy client, no matter the source from which these games originate.

Because of that, it seems that if everything goes according to the team’s plan, players will be able to import their game libraries from clients such as Steam, Uplay, Origin, possibly the Epic Games Store, and even certain game consoles, in addition to any games they’ve purchased from GOG. This will enable players to combine their libraries into what the Galaxy 2.0 website calls a “master collection.”

While that idea sounds excellent to me in theory, my intuition tells me the GOG team could encounter several potential roadblocks while working toward bringing this “one library master collection” concept to fruition.

I readily admit that I have no idea what the process of bringing about that feature might entail. The process of getting this idea off the ground might be remarkably simple and smooth. Heck, Galaxy 2.0 might be fully finished and readily available by this time next month for all I know. I, for one, sincerely hope that ends up being the case just so I can experiment with this potentially wonderful new feature.

However, I have a rather strong hunch that the GOG team will more than likely have to work directly and extensively with companies behind competing game clients such as Valve, Ubisoft, and EA in order to obtain permission to implement this feature. That’s the main potential issue I can foresee at this point.

I say that because I’m not remotely convinced that any of the involved companies would immediately give GOG their blessing. At least, not unless they’re getting something substantial in return. I don’t want to point fingers at any particular companies who might drive a hard bargain, but as I said, I get the feeling GOG may have to do some serious negotiating before Galaxy 2.0’s arguably most prominent new feature can be fully implemented.

Granted, considering its well-known partnerships with hundreds of indie and big-name developers and publishers alike, GOG is likely no longer considered to be anything resembling a “small” company. Therefore, I think it’s entirely possible and likely that GOG has the means to provide mutually-beneficial offers to companies, such as those I mentioned a moment ago, if doing so proves necessary.

There’s also the possibility that some players might take issue with some aspects of Galaxy 2.0’s planned new features. I find quite a few of these potential issues to be understandable, but I’m certain some people might disagree.

For example, GOG states in a selection of frequently asked questions about Galaxy 2.0 that even if you consolidate your game libraries within Galaxy, you’ll still need to keep the other game clients installed. This requirement allows you to maintain access to any given client’s features, such as installing games.

By that, it seems GOG is basically saying that you’ll still need to keep your other launchers installed to keep your games up to date or use another client’s cloud save syncing feature, for instance. That’s one of the potential things that might turn people away from Galaxy, but I agree with GOG on this subject.

While it would obviously be extremely convenient if Galaxy could keep all my non-GOG games updated and uploaded my save data to its cloud rather than Steam’s, I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect the GOG team to go to those lengths. After all, it’s no trouble for me to open Steam every so often to update my games or to buy and install new ones.

Another reason the word “consolidation” applies well to features planned for Galaxy 2.0 is that the client will feature the ability to combine your friends lists from other clients into one exhaustive list within the Galaxy client. Additionally, GOG plans to implement cross-platform chat between every platform with which GOG intends to affiliate.

It seems that the GOG team also plans to include a feature within Galaxy 2.0 which may be meant to rival Steam’s Discovery Queue. Specifically, Galaxy will allow you to, “follow upcoming games and discover games popular among your friends and the gaming community.”

Depending on how this system functions, it could serve the same purpose as Steam’s Discovery Queue system, or it could be a total improvement over Steam’s version of that feature. Personally, I hope the latter of those proves to be the case. Steam’s discovery queue can be interesting, but it also tends to be misinformed to various extents when it comes to presenting a selection of games it thinks I might like.

I’d like to reiterate the fact that I’m uncertain about the future of the Galaxy client in the wake of this proposed huge update. As I said earlier, I still believe that GOG might possibly be getting in over its collective head by announcing so many updates and major new features.

I don’t mean to be pessimistic, but there’s always the chance that things won’t go as smoothly as the people in charge of the Galaxy client’s development may hope. Don’t get me wrong, I’m relatively confident that the GOG team will do everything in their power to keep their promises, and make these sweeping changes to the Galaxy client as soon as possible.

With all that said, I’m personally exercising a significant amount of cautious optimism in this case. If this entire Galaxy 2.0 plan goes off without a hitch, as I hope it does, GOG will quite possibly attract an entirely new demographic of customers. This new demographic might, for example, really enjoy the ability to have their games from various sources organized into one central location.

If GOG does manage to pull this off and attract any portion of a new customer base, or even rekindle the interest of the customer base it already has, it will likely prove quite beneficial for all parties involved.

I think the hypothetical, yet quite possible, events I’ve just described will give the storefront the metaphorical shot in the arm it needs to both bolster its bottom line and erase any remaining misinformation which classifies the site as a “niche market.” GOG has definitely evolved from its days of updating and selling old computer games, and a successful launch of the Galaxy 2.0 update might just be the perfect way for the site to prove that once and for all.

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