GoG and EGS' Universal Ownership vision moves ahead as GoG starts community testing of its in-development storefront

[Delicieuxz]

In July, GoG and Tim Sweeney announced integration of their platforms for a "seamless and reliable" experience.

At the time, Tim Sweeney said the following:

Quote

Ultimately, ownership of digital items should be a universal notion, independent of stores and platforms. So much of the digital world today is frustrated by powerful intermediaries whose toll booths obstruct open commerce to keep customers and their purchases locked in.

 

Epic’s committed to working with all willing ecosystems to connect our stores and recognize universal ownership. Early bits include purchase integration with Humble and others, and library visibility to GOG. A lot more will be coming over time.

 

Possible implementation strategies: federated (each store maintains its own ownership records, but can communicate with other stores and recognize theirs too); clearinghouse (stores agree on a common ownership database); decentralized (a blockchain type leger tracks ownership).

 

There's no question this thing will start with federated ownership, because it's easy to adopt incrementally without disrupting existing stores. But that's doesn't scale well, so it's probably not the ultimate solution.

 

Those are great words, and ones that would hopefully be fulfilled by corresponding actions.

 

And actions seem to be corresponding with them a bit right now, as GoG just recently announced that they are beginning community testing of their upcoming new storefront with this statement:

Quote

We created GOG GALAXY 2.0 to give gamers a better way of organizing all their games across multiple gaming platforms into one library. Since its launch, the most requested new feature has been the option to buy games not only from GOG.COM, but from other platforms as well, straight from the GOG GALAXY app.

 

Today, we’re happy to invite the first group of gamers to test the brand new store we’re working on, and share their feedback with us.

 

In the new store, we will be welcoming games from both GOG.COM and beyond - including titles previously exclusive only to other gaming platforms. With the internal beta launching today, invited users will have the option to buy games from a selection of hand-picked Epic Games Store exclusive titles, alongside all GOG.COM games. Most importantly, all purchases are covered by our 30-days refund policy as well as 24/7 human support.

 

There is still plenty of work ahead of us. As the internal beta test continues, we will be inviting more gamers, expanding the store's catalog and introducing new features. For a chance to be part of this test, join GOG GALAXY today at gogalaxy.com.

 

GOG aims to become a universal storefront, has partnered with Epic Games Store

Quote

GOG has recently announced a new updated plan to expand its platform into a universal storefront which would allow gamers and customers to purchase and launch titles from other competing platforms within GOG.

 

The first partner happens to be Epic Games Store. This would help bring over a number of PC titles to the new store including exclusives such as The Outer Worlds. Epic Games seems to be open to this new idea and we could see more timed-exclusive indie and AAA games on GOG.

 

This is a bold and, I think, very good move which, providing all storefronts eventually join-in, will do a lot to ensure the preservation and accessibility of everybody's purchased games.

 

 

 

Related thread, concerning the July announcement:

 

[Guest]

Universal Storefront sounds like another word for monopoly 

[Tech Enthusiast]

27 minutes ago, RorzNZ said:

Universal Storefront sounds like another word for monopoly 

You can find a tin foil theory around every corner. No doubt!

 

This is amazing news and honestly totally unexpected.

Sure, he said he wanted to push this, but I took that as bold words for publicity and not something they would really push towards.

Let's see how this works out and if Steam joins at some point. Because, if we are honest, no matter how big the Epic growth has been... even if they grow at that pace for years, they would likely still be smaller than Steam.

 

One question keeps bugging me tho.

If they let you play games everywhere, no matter where you bought them,... how is GOG or even Epic gonna keep the people? Steam is a FAR, FAAAAR better platform for the end user. It just so happens to be more expensive usually.

Who would run a game bought on Epic... on the epic launcher, if he could just as well use the steam launcher, possibly with workshop, forums etc.?

 

Or maybe they want exactly that.

Sell games cheap enough so people pay Epic,... and then be happy if the customers use Steams resources and servers any ways?

 

Will be interesting to follow.

[Bombastinator]

33 minutes ago, RorzNZ said:

Universal Storefront sounds like another word for monopoly 

Or merger anyway.  It’s not like steam or microsoft store or Apple store or Google store might possibly be involved.  More like AMC than like GM even.

[TetraSky]

Cool. If Steam joins in, that would be great.

 

Imagine a world if Steam were to shut down.... Hundreds of games in our libraries, gone just like that with no possibility of transferring them elsewhere... That'd be sad AF and may just push people back to physical media if it means losing everything when a service goes down (though it's more likely to be Origin or uPlay that goes down first).

But if they are all linked, with libraries shared in between and you can choose where you want to buy your game from.... That can only be good for consumers.

 

If they each keep their stores separate and just have a library aggregation for our accounts, I'd be more than fine with that.

[Mark Kaine]

13 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

, gone just like that with no possibility of transferring them elsewhere... That'd be sad AF and may just push people back to physical media

wishful thinking but that would be the best thing ever. actually owning your games...

 

 

people can say a lot (of mostly nonsense) how "digital is the future" but as long you cannot freely resell your "digital" games that's a very grim future, and you own literally nothing.

 

 

12 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

If Steam joins in, that would be great

I don't think Steam would have any reason to do that.

 

Unlike GOG who really don't have much to lose with such a move.

[Danielx64]

Does this mean that epic Games will become DRM free? That's pretty important to me.

[Fatih19]

4 hours ago, RorzNZ said:

Universal Storefront sounds like another word for monopoly 

For sure, once more and more storefront joins in and become consolidated in this scheme, they'll have the power to just put barrier of entry to new competitors.

[Kisai]

4 hours ago, RorzNZ said:

Universal Storefront sounds like another word for monopoly 

Nah. If you've read the news for this, it's more like EGS wants to take advantage of GOG's commitment to not being awful.

 

Like it's fine, if it starts with GOG Galaxy being more of a universal launcher, then games can stop building their own per-store launcher trash that a lot of them come with. (Pretty much everything built in Unity comes with a "pick a resolution" box, or omits it, and then runs it in a postage stamp sized window.)

 

Where there might be progress is if some kind of universal license tracking can be designed so that you only need to buy the game once, and if a game disappears or is exclusive to a platform it launches from the platform the license belongs to rather than buying the game over and over again..

[Fatih19]

6 minutes ago, Kisai said:

Nah. If you've read the news for this, it's more like EGS wants to take advantage of GOG's commitment to not being awful.

 

Like it's fine, if it starts with GOG Galaxy being more of a universal launcher, then games can stop building their own per-store launcher trash that a lot of them come with. (Pretty much everything built in Unity comes with a "pick a resolution" box, or omits it, and then runs it in a postage stamp sized window.)

 

Where there might be progress is if some kind of universal license tracking can be designed so that you only need to buy the game once, and if a game disappears or is exclusive to a platform it launches from the platform the license belongs to rather than buying the game over and over again..

What happens when all of the stores have joined, and then GOG and friends decided that they don't want to be universal anymore? As such, won't be accepting any new storefront that might popped up to their universal launcher.

[RejZoR]

If that means I'll be able to play all the hoarded games on EGS through GOG I'm all for it XD Coz it's unlikely those games will ever get played otherwise XD

[hollyh88]

I think it's hilarious. That gog wants to work together with a company that actively screws over the consumer. And fcks over the pc community. Since gog is owned by cdpr and they do give a fuck about the consumer. And wouldnt force exclusivity onto people. 

[Doobeedoo]

That's looking neat. I was wondering about the whole universal digital ownership independent from stores to start to happen eventually. The digital goods are different breed and can't be treated as physical. Any game you bought digital whichever store, should be your to reuse elsewhere if tgat service is no more. 

[AdmiralMeowmix]

On 10/3/2020 at 6:36 PM, TetraSky said:

Cool. If Steam joins in, that would be great.

 

Imagine a world if Steam were to shut down.... Hundreds of games in our libraries, gone just like that with no possibility of transferring them elsewhere... That'd be sad AF and may just push people back to physical media if it means losing everything when a service goes down (though it's more likely to be Origin or uPlay that goes down first).

But if they are all linked, with libraries shared in between and you can choose where you want to buy your game from.... That can only be good for consumers.

 

If they each keep their stores separate and just have a library aggregation for our accounts, I'd be more than fine with that.

Steam has explicitly stated that in the unlikely case they have to shut down for any reason they'll unlock everyone's games to be drm free and download directly. Epic is only pushing this so they can push their shitty storefront and lure people into using them over others through shady marketing. 

[TetraSky]

13 minutes ago, AdmiralMeowmix said:

Steam has explicitly stated that in the unlikely case they have to shut down for any reason they'll unlock everyone's games to be drm free and download directly. Epic is only pushing this so they can push their shitty storefront and lure people into using them over others through shady marketing. 

Even if they set it DRM free, I doubt they will leave their servers on for a long period of time after the fact.

If steam shuts down and I want to download one of my game a few years later, who is to say the download server will still be up?

The way they word it, makes me think we will have a limited period of time to download ALL our games and then they just pull the plug. There's no way I can download 450+ games and keep them stored somewhere for posterity.

 

As such, if they allow aggregation of owned games lists with the other services, it would ensure that there will always be a place to download our games from even if one service goes down.

 

There's literally no downside for consumers with that.

[Mark Kaine]

11 hours ago, AdmiralMeowmix said:

Steam has explicitly stated that in the unlikely case they have to shut down for any reason they'll unlock everyone's games to be drm free and download directly. Epic is only pushing this so they can push their shitty storefront and lure people into using them over others through shady marketing. 

there's no way Steam does that, as they do not own these games,and I find it unlikely the rights owners would actually agree to such a  clause. point is we have nothing but steams word from who knows how many years ago, which isn't much...

[Delicieuxz]

11 hours ago, AdmiralMeowmix said:

Steam has explicitly stated that in the unlikely case they have to shut down for any reason they'll unlock everyone's games to be drm free and download directly. Epic is only pushing this so they can push their shitty storefront and lure people into using them over others through shady marketing. 

 

 

 

 

Valve alluded to such that in the past, but I don't count on them to keep that promise. Valve has, very disappointingly, taken some very anti-customer steps in recent years. And for that reason, I recommend buying from GoG instead of Steam whenever possible.

 

Regardless, lots of people own many hundreds, and even thousands of games bought through the Steam platform. And storing that many games on consumer hard-drives isn't possible.

 

The GoG and EGS partnership is looking very promising to me right now, and I think that Tim Sweeney might have genuinely good intentions here - both for developers and game owners, even if I don't like the practice of exclusives. But I'm not taking that as granted and am watching and see how things progress.

[Delicieuxz]

As a request related to the topic: If anyone ever hears about a planned or in-progress legal case that might relate to the ownership rights of software (game or application) purchasers, please let me know about it - hopefully before the start of any court proceedings, but even if they've started all the same. I have material which can help someone or a team that's defending software purchasers' ownership rights over their purchased software.

[Mark Kaine]

1 hour ago, Delicieuxz said:

As a request related to the topic: If anyone ever hears about a planned or in-progress legal case that might relate to the ownership rights of software (game or application) purchasers, please let me know about it - hopefully before the start of any court proceedings, but even if they've started all the same. I have material which can help someone or a team that's defending software purchasers' ownership rights over their purchased software.

I do... I have to dig it out on steam forums or elsewhere but apparently someone in France is suing Steam (VALVE) over not being allowed to resell digital games from the Steam storefront...

 

And Steam.

Says.

Allegedly.

 

"Games from Steam are not sold, they're 'rentals'...."

 

 

 

I don't have a direct link, but maybe you can find better info, and I'll dig around too. I don't really have a reason to doubt the story, just I have not seen anything more substantial than Steam forum posts so far 

 

[Mark Kaine]

Spoiler

depends on the country but youre right

the argument of most people isnt whether its legal or not but whats being said most of the time is "i didnt agree to this"

best case we got is the case in france regarding reselling of digital games on steam, where the judge ruled that its illegal to not let you resell digital games since its not a real subscription (which is what valve is claiming)

sadly valve appealed the decision and knowing how courts work it will take years before its resolved

 

https://steamcommunity.com/app/252950/discussions/0/2942496178839865757/?ctp=5

 

 

@Delicieuxz as you see, it appears to be ongoing case as VALVE appears to have appealed the judge's decision...

 

if this is isn't a hoax it should be easy to find more info!?

 

 

Edit: indeed easy...

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.techtimes.com/amp/articles/245417/20190921/french-court-tells-valve-to-allow-reselling-of-steam-games.htm

 

[Delicieuxz]

22 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

I do... I have to dig it out on steam forums or elsewhere but apparently someone in France is suing Steam (VALVE) over not being allowed to resell digital games from the Steam storefront...

 

And Steam.

Says.

Allegedly.

 

"Games from Steam are not sold, they're 'rentals'...."

 

I don't have a direct link, but maybe you can find better info, and I'll dig around too. I don't really have a reason to doubt the story, just I have not seen anything more substantial than Steam forum posts so far 

Thanks. I'm aware of that one, though, and we had an LTT thread about it. I don't think Valve made an argument about games being rentals, but that they're a subscription service. And they are: They're a service that sells games to people through its service, with the games they sell undergoing transfer of ownership upon the point of purchase and becoming the sole property of the customers who purchase the games. So, regardless of whether they're a service, they're still selling games / digital goods - just as a pizza-ordering service is a service that sells food goods through its service.

 

https://kotaku.com/french-court-says-valve-must-allow-steam-users-to-resel-1838259529

https://www.polygon.com/2019/9/19/20874384/french-court-steam-valve-used-games-eu-law

 

Consumer rights group Que Choisir sued Valve over their obstruction on reselling games. The Paris High Court ruled in Que Choisir's favour, and Valve appealed the ruling, as would be expected.

 

 

[Mark Kaine]

9 minutes ago, Delicieuxz said:

Thanks. I'm aware of that one, though, and we had an LTT thread about it. I don't think Valve made an argument about games being rentals, but that they're a subscription service. And they are: They're a service that sells games to people through its service, with the games they sell becoming the sole property of the purchasers of those games. So, they're still selling games.

 

https://kotaku.com/french-court-says-valve-must-allow-steam-users-to-resel-1838259529

https://www.polygon.com/2019/9/19/20874384/french-court-steam-valve-used-games-eu-law

 

Consumer rights group Que Choisir sued Valve over their obstruction on reselling games. The Paris High Court ruled in Que Choisir's favour, and Valve appealed the ruling, as would be expected.

 

 

Ah I see, it's new to me. Well in my humble opinion VALVE are lying off their asses here. In no place they tell you about a "subscription service" more like we "sell" games that are "yours forever (lol)"

 

 

This quote is particularly damming imo

 

Quote

 

In particular, the judicial body did not find any merit in Valve's claim that Steam was a subscription service. This helped convince the court to allow users to resell their games

 

There's been a similar case in germany... yet VALVE doesn't give a **** and nobody seems to have sued them here either, which I find rather weird...

 

(is also by far not the only rule/ law VALVE doesn't follow in the EU....)