I searched this forum for keyword “GOG” and found 1 (one!) search result where a developer said they are going to try to release their game (Jurassic Fantasy) on GOG, because they feel it fits the profile of the platform. But I searched GOG and it is not there, so that did not work out for some reason (it is available on Steam so it was published somewhere, not cancelled).
Considering that pixel art and retro games, the kinds of games I mostly see made with GDevelop, are the majority of GOG’s library, that would seem to be a top store for people looking for those kinds of games. Which is why I am curious why GOG is not a mentioned goal for publishing games made with GDevelop.
Is it because of how dominant Steam is? Even though there are more games to compete with on Steam?
Is it easier to publish on Steam?
Is it because GOG is all about DRM-free games, so developers are afraid of piracy? From what I have read no DRM, including the Steam client (which some people refer to as DRM), prevents pirating anyways (as in whether it takes hours or months, they always find a way to defeat it). I have even read a few people say they usually pirate games to not support a store or developers who use DRM, but they buy from GOG to support a store and developers who do not use DRM.
Because Steam absolutely dominates the PC game market. If you’re publishing on PC Steam is an absolute must unless you like missing out on like 90 percent of the PC market.
Okay, that is one for the how dominant Steam is category.
But even as a comparatively small market share store, GOG could provide decent extra sales so I find it strange that no one publishes there. I have seen a few other stores mentioned and I doubt all of them have a greater share of that small percentage of the non-Steam market than GOG does. Publishing at every available marketplace increases overall visibility and chance of sales at any of them for a greater total from all of them, after all, so why does everyone ignore that one?
Edited because I think I misunderstood your reply.
Just to add a little more info, it was originally Good Old Games then shortened to GOG. They run a game preservation program in which you can help fund the updating and continuous support (by the GOG team themselves) of many no longer supported games. They were owned and run by CD Projekt Red (Witcher and Cyberpunk games developer), but recently sold the store to a co-founder of both. To say they are opposed to DRM is putting it mildly.
DRM, large companies don’t want to give the ability to let users download the games again and again even after it’s no longer supported. Example games being shut down and new games being pushed so people go to the newer games. Also game publishers depend on DRM so their games don’t get pirated and so on
One for the DRM category. Although you refer to large companies while I am referring specifically to indie developers using GDevelop, so the reasons may not be the same, or may not work out the same.
I mean a lot of AAA publishers dont even publish to GoG or Epic Games. Unless it is an unreal game and Epic is giving the producers $$$$ even Epic Games gets skipped.
GoG is generally looked at by the majority of the gamer community as the store to buy retro games that can actually work on moderrn hardware.
It is certainly not easier to publish on Steam depending on your engine I am assuming gdevelop wraps its game in Electron and has some kind of hook for the steam sdk kit. While unity and unreal its extremely easy to integrate Steam.
Even if you look at long term indy titles in permanent early access like Project Zomboid you will see monthly threads about Steam Achievements that get thousands of views.Gamers want Steam Achievements and will not settle for anything else.
Put it this way if your game goes viral on Steam you are a millionaire. Look at Balatro the dev thought he sell a dozen copies. It went viral on Twitch and Balatro sold over 5 million copies on steam.
Epic Store and GoG just dont have that power. And for Indy devs if you release to more than 1 store you have to push updates to more than 1 store and possibly even have different versions.
This is the reason why some big AAA game studios have a different studio port the game to consoles because its basically a different store front, with different rules and different patches. And consoles could be at least 3-4 stores. Then you add GoG and Epic you are talking 6+ stores.
However, approval for publishing is a manual process, not guaranteed, and generally there is no integrations nor toolkits needed (the SDK they do have wouldn’t necessarily help most GD5 users).
So there aren’t any questions to answer about it. Feel free to go here and submit your game if you like: GOG.com
Yeah Godot also too. Because of the nature of the export .pck+exe someone can easily still pirate it. I even thing you can reverse compile it because the compilation process is open.
