Patient Gamers

Check both, if the game is available on both, then I will get it on Gog.

If not, Steam it is!

I have a few games I enjoy so much that I have bought them several times, including on both Steam and Gog.

An example, back in 2004/2005 I bought Unreal Tournament 2004 on CDs, then when I found it on Steam a few years later, I bought it there as well as I wanted a modern installer, finally I found it on Gog without DRM yet another few years later and bought it there as well.

I love that game and wanted the best installer for it, especially without DRM.

Fun fact, Unreal Tournament 2004 has a native Linux version on the retail disks, you will find a bash install script in the root on one of the CDs

I'm going to go against the grain here and say I primarily buy from Steam. A lot of indie games don't require Steam to run to play them and for the games that do, it's not hard to bypass. I just like having everything in one spot where I can redownload to other devices when needed, and I can have cloud saves for bouncing between my PC and Steam Deck. Also, if I nuke my OS for a 3rd time this month (changing distros), I won't have to start over on the games I'm playing.

I buy from Steam because of the excellent Linux support, and Steam input.

I buy from GOG because I like owning my games and I like preserving good old games.

Every time I buy a game I make a choice based on those criteria.

I don't like owning games twice.

The choice isn't always easy, but that's OK.

You can't buy games from Steam.
You can only license them for private use, subject to a change in licensing terms or disappearance of the game from the platform at any time.

My general policy is to buy stuff from GoG that I will likely want to replay in the future and prioritize Steam for anything that I primarily play with friends (as that's the main advantage of Steam for me). If it's neither, I'll default to GoG.

I buy on gog if it’s available there. Because no DRM is a great thing for simplicity’s sake for me. With that said, the experience running gog games, even with Heroic, on SteamOS is rough. But so far that hasn’t been enough to change my behavior.

Buy on gog if it's there. Buy on steam otherwise. Keep a pirate copy handy either way.

I don't buy AAA games, so YMMV, but I buy my games almost exclusively from GOG and Itch these days. I have loads of games on Steam, but now the DRM-free aspect is most important to me. If something is only on Steam, I may still buy it if I can confirm that it's "DRM-free" (e.g. bypassable Steam check) there, or if it's so cheap that I won't mind losing it. As honest as GabeN and the Steam team seem to be, I've been shafted enough times already.

The one drawback I see for buying on GOG vs buying on Steam (which can also be kind of an advantage depending on your perspective) is updates. Steam seems to let publishers push updates out whenever they want. While a few publishers do actually seem to forget about GOG, I have read comments from a few different developers (in response to complaints from customers) that they had sent their updates to GOG but were stuck in an approval process. It appears that the GOG team manually tests every update before putting it up for customers, and there's a large backlog for a small team, so it can be several months before a patch gets through.

I've been a Steam only buyer for a long time. There are so many cool features and extra stuff, most games work out of the box, and they've been putting in a lot of effort on the linux scene with proton and the deck. But even despite all that, I'm starting to move to GOG. The sad truth is that you don't own any of your games on Steam. I've been having more and more games be removed from my library, and games that either just don't work or are "updated" into something worse. Not Steam's fault really, but GOG is much more consumer friendly and I actually get files I can use and keep forever, no required updates or DRM. I really like Steam, and am having a hard time leaving it, but GOG is just the better choice from a long term and consumer ethics perspective.

I used to prioritise GoG but now I just use Steam for the Linux support personally. If that's not important to you it mostly comes down to whether you mind the inconvenience of multiple stores.

It's ok to use all the different stores.

Personally I use Steam for anything that has online functions and/or early access and GOG for everything else. Also I will buy direct from the developer (eg something like Software Inc) if I can but that option is getting harder to do.

Every gimmicky feature on steam is fluff to lock you into an ecosystem. Buying steam games for achievements for example is really silly.

Truth is if you care about a sustainable games industry, then drm free and maximising developer cut is the right choice.

Choose the option that gives the developer the biggest cut, like itch or directly, and just use a launcher aggregator to manage it from one place like heroic launcher or playnite. I personally use gog for most but will use an alternative if it supports the dev better.

If it's single player I go gog. If it's multiplayer and there's at least a 5% chance my friends will get it then I go with steam.

I try to go GOG first, so I can keep the installation kits offline. There are however a lot of good indies on Steam, and few of these ever get ported from there. Steam workshop is also fantastic and doesn't really have a match on other platforms, and unlike GOG they provide good linux support. Also worth noting that some of the old games on GOG are inferior to their steam counterparts ( see Commander Keen for example ). So yes, I'd say both are good, but maybe prioritise GOG first.

The only black-and-white rule is: if you're buying an older game you should always buy it on GOG. No exceptions. There's too many retro games on Steam that won't even launch on modern machines, and beyond that GOG is typically very good at including fan made patches and fixes into their versions of old games, ensuring older games actually work and are just plug-and-play.

Steam can turn on a dime and we have seen what they can be like suspending the accounts of dead older brothers and letting developers abuse their customers. GOG is fundamentally free.

I buy most co-op ("always online" like Darktide or Helldivers 2) games on Steam (, ...) since they're often not available on GOG

For single-player, I prefer to wait for it to be on GOG. Sometimes it's on release, other times it takes a few months (Expedition 33) or years, but I have plenty enough backlog

Honestly, it depends on you, what matters to you more.

For their stance on DRM free and game preservation, Id buy from/support GOG every day of the damn week.

Problem is, that I'm from a third world country, with recent and very high inflation. Dollar is way too expensive here. (With a gov tax on converting the local currency to dollar on top of that 🤮)

So the above + regional pricing means I'm stuck to Steam + piracy.

If budget is tight, I'd say, stick to Steam. Otherwise, go GOG

Support GOG. what they're doing is great.

Support Steam. what they're doing is great.

Maybe, try to keep it roughly even. Or buy based on your whim. They're both great.

I prefer Gog. I don't need cloud sync, I just want to download the installer and start playing. I hate the idea of needing a really heavy launcher like steam to play my games. I play via Lutris on Linux. DRM-free is important to me as a principle. I also happen to prefer Gog's UI when shopping around. I keep steam around for games I bought before I made the full switch to Linux and the occasional game that is not available on Gog.

I personally buy from GOG almost exclusively, but it really depends on you. If Steam features are important to you, use Steam. If what GOG's doing with DRM is important to you, buy from GOG.

Can't you continue buying games from both? And use Playnite or something? Or even just GOG Galaxy which has the ability to import your games from Steam and run them?

GoG. You actually own the game. Like you used to with discs

I love gog for being able to download and own the game. I have about 10x more games there than steam. It’s a bit more hassle integrating them with the steam deck than steam is though.

Just whatever’s easiest. If you really hate DRM they get it on gog, if you don’t mind it, get it on steam.

I prefer GOG because of the DRM-free option, and I like what they stand for. But, you're right, there are a few cases where you'd want the Steam version instead. I'd say ask the community around the game and see what they think. There are no cases I'm aware of where not having the Steam version would be a problem, but I don't play games like that.

GOG does a few things better than Steam, though. They fix stuff. Steam just pushes what the publisher gives them. Two cases, same franchise... same shitty developer. Fallout 3 shipped with DRM called GfWL (Games for Windows Live), basically Xbox Live for Windows. GfWL failed, but Bethesda didn't take it out of Fallout 3, meaning to play Fallout 3 on PC, even if you bought it legally, you had to crack the DRM, which is illegal in the US. No one got in trouble for doing so, but that's what you had to do. GOG just took the DRM out. Problem solved. Something like a decade after Bethesda created the problem by not taking it out themselves, they did just that — VERY recently, and thus, it became "legal" to play Fallout 3 on PC again. Second case, Fallout 4. Same developer/publisher. Different case. They put out a patch about a year, year and a half ago, and it broke the random NPC generator. There was a cursed combination of variables that could make up an NPC, that if it generated that set of variables, you could never get close to that NPC, or your game would crash. Modders quickly found the problem and told Bethesda how to fix it. They refused. More to the point, they ignored the issue. I don't think GOG carried that update for months. They refused it. You could only get the older, last working version for a while. I think they eventually allowed it, but with a note on it saying it was broken with no fix in the works. Couple weeks ago, they said they fixed it... after like 16 months. But introduced more problems. (Disclaimer of bias: I own Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 and all the official DLC on Xbox, Steam, and GOG. I used to be a big fan of Bethesda, but after Starfield... I am discovering way too late that it's not a tenth the game the Mass Effect trilogy was. Better late than never, I suppose?)

Depends. I'd love to say go with GOG whenever possible but they have some utter shit in their store. Like, old versions of games with bugs that were patched years ago or just plain don't work. Dragon's Dogma where online is completely broken comes to mind. So, I guess find out which version is the best on a game-per-game basis? I realize how much of a fucking non-answer this is and I'm sorry to have wasted your time.

ITT: a lot of people talking about "owning" games on GoG.

Call me old-fashioned, but if you can't sell it or share it then you don't own it. Valve does a much better job of communicating what you are actually paying for in my opinion.

Steam is also just a great client. It handles inputs better than anything else I've tried. The Linux support is incredible. Remote Play is incredible. The store experience is pretty great. Mod support through the Steam Workshop is great- I always sigh and roll my eyes any time I'm looking into missing a game and find that I need to download random files from a GitHub page or NexusMods.

I have a Steam Deck, and yes I've done my share of tinkering and customization under-the-hood with it, but at the end of the day the experience straight out of the box is still my preferred way to go. I've seen all these "replacement" UI's out there people have made and like... It's really great that it's possible. It'll help make sure that the hardware is supported for a long time after Valve has one inevitably moved on. It's great for times when I want to dive in and tinker with something. But for actually playing games? The stock Steam Deck experience is still the way to go. Everything just... Works.

I hate DRM, but I appreciate how Valve at least identifies games with DRM. There's a lot of games on my wishlist that regularly go on sale for ridiculously low prices, and I routinely check to see whether they have removed Denuvo yet. Those games usually just aren't on GoG at all. Sonic Frontiers? Not listed- if Sega ever decides to stop paying Denuvo for that game then on Steam I will see that the next time it goes on sale (I might get an email too since I follow an anti-Denuvo curator, it I'm not 100% sure about that). On GoG it's just... Maybe I'll happen to see it featured on the front page as a new addition at some point?

GoG advertises themselves as a carefully curated platform, and that's not what I want. I want to be able to see all of the games available, have information about them conveyed in a trustworthy and consistent manner, and make my own informed decisions. I admire what GoG does, and I have a handful of games from them, but I don't think their overall offering compares favorably to Valve.

Of course there's price. Sales happen on both platforms and it's good to compare price histories. But even then the MSRP's and the % discounts are usually standardized across platforms by the publisher with little difference across platforms (unless you're using a Nintendo device lol).

Early access titles and games with workshop support i get on steam - EA titles have the tendency to not update timely on GOG, and i take workshop support over stuff like mod.io or manually browsing and downloading any day. Otherwise i prefer GOG.