GOG Galaxy Enters Open Beta. Try it Now.

Gamespot states:

CD Projekt Red got one step closer today as the platform on Tuesday entered open beta, following a closed testing period earlier.

The platform will replicate some of the features offered through Steam, like the ability to automatically update games, chat with friends, and compare achievements. While certain functionality--like playing online or talking to other people--will of course require an Internet connection, GOG customers who opt to make use of Galaxy will be free to play all of their games offline without any online activations required.

GOG Galaxy users are also free to download a standalone, DRM-free backup of every game in their library. This is to ensure that "keeping purchases safe is easier than ever," CD Projekt Red explains.

“For us, quality trumps quantity. We meticulously think about every feature and how can we make it better." GOG executive Piotr Karwowski said in a statement. “We also know that people want to have freedom of choice, so GOG Galaxy and its features are not forced on you. Making it optional is the best motivation for us to make it better; we want it to be so good that you’ll actually want to use it."

Some other GOG Galaxy features include:

• Friends lists
• Game time tracking
• Achievements
• Chat
• Cross-platform play (where supported)
• Platform-independent multiplayer between GOG and Steam

You can sign up for the GOG Galaxy open beta here.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/witcher-3-s-drm-free-platform-gog-galaxy-hits-open/1100-6427082/

Short version:

You won't need Gog galaxy to play games but if you have one, it'll be easier to update and buy your games. It also has a function for Gog-Steam cross multiplayer.

I really dont want another game client.

Love the UI. Shall be disabling Achievements.

Hope you change your display name though.

It's functional, and relatively fast. I'm already liking it more than Origin and uPlay.

You should! Because Steam sucks now, also Valve Corp. Sucks as well

Not really. Steam still house over 200 games for me.

Whose fault is that? :P

Nice! Steam needs some proper competiton, they've been making a few "weird" moves lately. Hopefully GOG will be able to provide (lolOrigin, lolUplay).

This is great news. The only thing keeping gog back is a more tight knit community which will be fixed by this. Once they get this up and running...then they can focus on getting newer games comming to their platform....then ill be happy to get away from using steam in the future. Steam will probably be useful for publishers who want drm enforced on their games.

@Cloud_imperium said:

So this appears to be running in OSX...while downloading the Witcher 3

Steam as a DRM has never actually bothered me because of this I've never bothered to go looking for games on GoG. That could be a mistake on my part.

I usually buy Steam keys for games and they generally come fairly cheap. The only problem I've had buying keys was when Ubisoft took Far Cry 4 out of my account. That got re-instated after a couple of days when Ubisoft realised that there is nothing illegal in buying unused keys from a reseller.

Hardly a bad thing. Steam gets competition and if you don't want to use it, you'll still have access to your games even without client. Still not satisfied? Then there is always Steam.

gr8 ! now let's see what steam got to offer .....

Sounds good to me. Valve has been getting a little greedy lately. Makes it hard to trust them with my money.

fuk this shit, no more moronic 3rd party applications for games.

PC wins

Don't have to use it.

they all say that at first, when the platform is being ignored they will force it.

BS, GOG has always been DRM-Free. You're not required to have a client to keep all your games, but companies like Valve CORPORATION, enforces you to have only on steam account and won't let you share your PC games. At least GOG.com is allowing everybody to share their games. Once again, it's your choice, but I choose to leave steam and embrace a DRM-Free PC gaming future.