In brief: GOG is primarily associated with retro PC games, but it has also gradually come to include recent indie releases and a few AAA titles. Unfortunately, some shoppers have begun to notice and catalogue hundreds of discrepancies between games released on GOG and the same titles on Steam or the Epic Games Store.
According to a continually updated online spreadsheet, hundreds of games on GOG are missing updates, downloadable content, languages, and other features available via different launchers, such as Steam. Major examples include Fallout 4, No Man's Sky, and the Metro series.
Volunteers have logged approximately 1,531 issues affecting 1,140 games, organized by issue type and publisher. While it is difficult to discern the reason for so many discrepancies, a few patterns are apparent.
Some GOG titles are missing patches that were released on Steam and other platforms, leaving serious issues unresolved in some cases. One of the most notable examples is that Fallout 4's next-gen update never arrived on GOG.
Another common issue is that many games are available on fewer operating systems through GOG than through Steam. The macOS port of No Man's Sky is only available through Steam. Furthermore, Metro 2033 Redux and Metro Last Light Redux support macOS on Steam, the Epic Games Store, and the Mac App Store, but not on GOG; Linux versions are available only through Steam.
Some titles are missing free and even paid DLC, while others only omit bundled soundtracks. Many games also lack support for certain languages on GOG compared to other stores. French, German, and Spanish are the most frequently omitted languages, with Italian, Russian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese not far behind.
Maintaining games across different PC storefronts is primarily up to developers and publishers, and a few stick out on the GOG spreadsheet. Devolver Digital and THQ Nordic GmbH are tied for the most affected games, with 29 each. Bethesda, Square Enix, Daedalic Entertainment, and others also have more than a dozen impacted titles.
While these games likely sell far more copies on Steam, some users prefer to purchase them on GOG due to the storefront's strict anti-DRM policy. GOG allows users to download offline installation packages that are not tied to users' accounts, making them ideal for backups. These features might be why GOG versions of some games do not support multiplayer or other online features.