Link your Steam account to GOG to get DRM-free copies of your games

[Shawn Knight]

GOG (formerly Good Old Games) on Wednesday launched a new program called GOG Connect that lets users link their Steam account to GOG and add DRM-free versions of select games to their GOG.com library.

Using Steam’s API, the new feature allows GOG to scan your Steam library and add DRM-free copies of games participating in the program. Right now, that list is pretty short with just over 20 games including The Witness, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing: Final Cut, Saints Row 2, The Witcher: Enhanced Edition and Unreal Tournament GOTY, just to name a few.

GOG says the new feature is here to stay but available games will come and go based on various developer and publisher deals. The good news is that once you’ve imported a DRM-free game to GOG, it’ll remain in your library even after it’s no longer offered for import. What’s more, your Steam account remains unaffected regardless of how many games you do or don’t import.

You’ll need to make sure your Steam privacy settings and profile status are set to public before linking the two. GOG says the API used for the feature supports a limited number of calls each day so you may be put into a queue before accounts are connected.

Perhaps the most important thing you need to know is that only one Steam account can be linked to a GOG account and linking is permanent. If you have multiple Steam accounts for whatever reason, you’ll want to choose wisely as it relates to which account to link.

To help ring in the new feature, GOG is also running a sale through June 6 in which you can save up to 85 percent on select titles.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/65065-link-steam-account-gog-get-drm-free-copies.html

 

[mcborge]

I really don't see the point of this... why would you need two copies of the same game on two different clients. also if one account gets hacked will that mean they get access to the other account as well?

 

[enemys]

I really don't see the point of this... why would you need two copies of the same game on two different clients. also if one account gets hacked will that mean they get access to the other account as well?

1. I own some Steam games, that I would love to have on GOG, because I find their politics, ToS, no DRM etc. superior to Steam ones. I won't leave Steam, but I prefer the GOG "ecosystem", so it's nice to have the ability to use it more often.
2. Some games have different versions across different shops/platforms. It's not just about the inclusion/exclusion of DRM - Steam version of Gothic is very hard to run on modern systems, while GOG version runs flawless.

And about your question: no, accesing one account doesn't grant access to the other one - regardless of which one was hacked.

 

[Dimitriid]

I really don't see the point of this... why would you need two copies of the same game on two different clients. also if one account gets hacked will that mean they get access to the other account as well?

You basically get a free extra copy, that way you can share your main library on Steam and still have games you can install on Gog to play while someone else borrows your main.

For gog it's worth it since people will get a boost on their gog libraries and will be that more likely to get games there then for the aforementioned reasons.

 

[mcborge]

Both of you guys give valid points that I admit didn't think of... I I've gotten too used to mainly using steam that's my trouble. I have a lot of games in my steam library that I haven't tested on windows 10 yet so I could see if I have any that don't run and check if they are on gog. So far I have only used gog for a couple of games that aren't on steam so I'm not that used to using it.

 

[baN893]

Both of you guys give valid points that I admit didn't think of...

Wow, you actually seem to be a reasonable person. I would give you more than a like if I could.

As for the account linking, I would love to see more than 20 games available. I would like to use GOG more, I have only very rarely been able to use it.

 

[Reehahs]

Also, compatibility. GOG versions tend to work better than Steam ones.

 

[RustyTech]

I would give you more than a like if I could.

Is that right...I must know more!

 

[DDG4005]

I've enabled GOG Connect but I have to double-check my Steam settings (they may not be public). This is a great way to get games that don't need DRM into your library to download and back them up. I hope the list of games expands to include Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Duke Nukem Megaton Edition and a few others.

 

[MonsterZero]

Both of you guys give valid points that I admit didn't think of... I I've gotten too used to mainly using steam that's my trouble. I have a lot of games in my steam library that I haven't tested on windows 10 yet so I could see if I have any that don't run and check if they are on gog. So far I have only used gog for a couple of games that aren't on steam so I'm not that used to using it.

I've been on win10 for a while now, absolutely no problems running games, go ahead and make the switch you'll be glad you did.

 

[Tanstar]

Also, if something caused Steam to suddenly collapse, you wouldn't lose all of your games. GOG seems more likely than Steam to fail, but I like the redundancy.

 

[mcborge]

I've been on win10 for a while now, absolutely no problems running games, go ahead and make the switch you'll be glad you did.

I I've been a windows 10 insider since around 3 months after the win 10 program started and I have nearly 300 games on steam and there are a few that don't like win 10, crysis and quake 4 work now but they were a pain to get working correctly and the first sin game wont work at all... but saying that it didn't work on win 7 either due to both being 64 bit and sin kept trying to access protected memory before crashing because of this. The funny thing is with all those games I have, none of them are featured in the gog link as yet... but I bet in time at least a few of them will feature. This feature could be useful in time now that I know more about it.

 

[Alpha Gamer]

I really don't see the point of this... why would you need two copies of the same game on two different clients. also if one account gets hacked will that mean they get access to the other account as well?

Because of their DRM-Free policy, the really nice freebies they throw every time you buy a game and (my favorite one) the option to not only update a game only when you feel like so, but also being able to revert to previous patch versions, GOG is always my first choice when acquiring a new title. But due to regional prices, GOG is ,99% of the time, more expensive than steam, at least in my region. With this new feature, I would be able to pay a lower price and yet enjoy all the freedom GOG provides.

 

[Adhmuz]

I really don't see why anyone would be complaining about this, seems like a pretty good deal to me, link your accounts, get access to your games without DRM for free. It took all of 2 minutes to do and now I can download a couple of my games and not need Steam to play them, great for when I go cottaging or for LANs.

 

[Kibaruk]

What I'm wondering is what GoG gets out of this? Maybe more people installing it's app?

 

[mcborge]

I really don't see why anyone would be complaining about this, seems like a pretty good deal to me, link your accounts, get access to your games without DRM for free. It took all of 2 minutes to do and now I can download a couple of my games and not need Steam to play them, great for when I go cottaging or for LANs.

I wasn't complaining. I just didn't get the point at the time due to reading the piece whilst tired but plenty of posters on this thread have expanded on the information given and I am happy to stand corrected because of this.

 

[gingerbill]

I'm surprised they wouldn't have any legal issues or complaints from steam . You could basically set up a GOG account and then let someone you know use it and have loads of games for free?. I wouldn't have thought game devs and steam would like you having a way of duplicating your steam account ( I understand you cant do all games as of now) . Couldn't it be used as a buy a game get another copy free system? Surely game devs and steam for obvious reasons wouldn't like that. Or can you not play the game on steam and GOG at the same time if its 'transferred' from steam?

 

[jauffins]

I really don't see the point of this... why would you need two copies of the same game on two different clients. also if one account gets hacked will that mean they get access to the other account as well?

1. I own some Steam games, that I would love to have on GOG, because I find their politics, ToS, no DRM etc. superior to Steam ones. I won't leave Steam, but I prefer the GOG "ecosystem", so it's nice to have the ability to use it more often.
2. Some games have different versions across different shops/platforms. It's not just about the inclusion/exclusion of DRM - Steam version of Gothic is very hard to run on modern systems, while GOG version runs flawless.

And about your question: no, accesing one account doesn't grant access to the other one - regardless of which one was hacked.

Except GOG isn't the flawless angel you make them out to be. I recently purchased a title that it turns out simply hasn't been updated to work on most modern hardware, from GOG, and after struggling for a weekend, I requested a refund. I had to fight them for a full week thereafter to get my $10 back. I was made to believe old games on GOG "just work," but unfortunately that simply isn't the case.