this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2026
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[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I'll be that guy and say that I do prefer buying from GOG, going as far as paying more money in doing so, so the issue isn't really 'friction' but 'mfs don't bother offering on GOG'.

My hate for drm has only grown over the last two decades, and so I'll get stuff wherever I can that isn't plastered with it. But it's not even a rounding error in comparing the number of games available of steam vs GOG. You'd have to go so far out with zeros that you fall off the page before encountering a positive value (0.00000[...]00001%). Which is upsetting and frustrating, since the other option is steam or piracy. And I do like rewarding developers for their work, so that leaves one option basically all the time.

[–] phx@lemmy.world 4 points 19 hours ago

Indeed, and now what GoG is pursuing stronger Linux offerings I may shop there more, but Valve had contributed more than just a shop and launcher. The Linux work with Steam Deck and Proton has been invaluable.

[–] Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

There are games on Steam that don't have DRM (since it's not a requirement from Valve). The most prominent examples I can think of are games from Toby Fox and Klei Entertainment.

[–] Infrapink@thebrainbin.org 2 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

Steam is a DRM system.

I am not being flippant or facetious. Steam is literally a DRM system with a shop grafted on top. That is what it has always been. If a game is on Steam, it be definition has DRM.

[–] Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 4 hours ago

Steam is a distribution platform, with DRM provided as an optional feature for the developer. If I wanted to play Deltarune without using the steam launcher, I can go to the downloaded directory and simply launch the executable. For convenience's sake, most users will use the steam client to launch their games, and some games force you to due to developer choice. In order to play the game I wanted to play though (Deltarune), steam only served as a storefront and a download repository.

[–] SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 8 hours ago

But for the games without DRM you can just download them and run the executable. Bypassing Steam

Sure, if you stop using steam you can't re-download or update the game, but if the game didn't have DRM, you can just keep copying the existing executable

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 7 points 21 hours ago

I'd love to see this as an official tag on the store page.

[–] ech@lemmy.ca 2 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

In terms of straight numbers, isn't Steam's large "advantage" there it's offering of independent, mostly unregulated games from small time devs? Are those really using drm? Even if there are, I don't really think most users are choosing Steam over GOG for access to "Asset Flip #57354".

[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

I thought the small indie devs were mostly on itch?

[–] ech@lemmy.ca 4 points 18 hours ago

Itch is exclusively indie devs, afaik, but since Steam started their Greenlight initiative, the number of games released per year has rocketed up. 2012, the year Greenlight started, only 441 games were released on steam. Two years later in 2014, almost 1500 games were released. 2017 released 5600. 2021 released 10,200. And last year had over 21k. How much of that do we think is really DRM'd, AAA published software?