GOG Acquired by co-founder Michał Kiciński

GOG is now independent of CD Projekt Red, but says it will continue to have a commercial relationship with CDPR and sell its games on the platform.

To end the year with some interesting news, GOG will be acquired by co-founder Michał Kiciński, also a co-founder of parent company and Cyberpunk, The Witcher dev CD Projekt Red.

There's more than a little conjecture around exactly what this means for gamers, but we're choosing to look at the potential positives of the deal. GOG has firmly established itself as a leader in the DRM-free and games preservation spaces, which has earned it many fans over the year.

Cleaning Up a Strange Relationship

The establishment of the GOG Preservation Program last year allowed players and fans to make direct monetary contributions to a fund dedicated to getting classics back into ship shape condition for use on modern systems. The company also introduced GOG Patrons only this month, allowing contributors to set up a regular payment to the fund.

However, these two fundraising efforts have always rubbed me a little bit wrong. Not the idea of them - I think it's an excellent concept and obviously so do a hell of a lot of people given the amount of uptake there's been since the launch of the two initiatives.

However, the fact these funds were being sought by and managed under the banner of CD Projekt Red, a company generating almost half a billion dollars in profit, has always seemed a little odd to me. If GOG, and by extension CDPR, were as dedicated to games preservation as they claimed to be, surely it should be financed by CDPR themselves?

I digress - but the severing of this partnership, I believe, is a step in the right direction in further democratising the preservation of games.

Operations Not Changing - at Least in the Short Term

GOG have stated that there will be little change in their business model, with DRM-free remaining central to their ongoing operations.

Your library stays yours to enjoy: same access, same offline installers, same sense of ownership.

Funds donated via the platform's two fundraising models remain with GOG, and the company have stated that due to the influx of funds through the program, they'll be able to "undertake even more ambitious rescue missions in 2026 and 2027".

The FAQs provided as part of the announcement also state that GOG is, and will remain financially stable both before and after the separation.

The Way Forward for GOG

The future for GOG, including its games preservation program, seems to be strong. Of course, when a company changes hands there's always the risk of unexpected changes and consequences.

In particular, as the premier DRM-free platform, fans of the company will be looking to see how the company handles new AAA releases into the future - whether these will continue, or if the smaller organisation (and possible decreased industry influence when brought out of CDPR's shadow) will see new release games decrease over time.

But only time will tell in terms of what comes to pass. Me? I just hope they finally get around to preserving Future Cop: LAPD for a modern audience!

What do you think of the ownership change for GOG? Join the conversation on Mastodon and let us know!