GOG Galaxy 2.0 may be what PC gamers need to unite all launchers

Information technology used to be far simpler for PC gamers a decade ago. Really there was only one storefront and game launcher: Steam. Sure, Blizzard'southward Boxing.net was effectually, but the major player was Valve with Steam and its incredible concord on the digital market. That is until publishers decided they no longer wanted to carve up the revenue with Valve and wanted their own storefronts. This began to create issues for PC gamers who had to install numerous launchers. They thought it couldn't get any worse, but it did.

Steam failed to accept action in clearing upwards its catalog, the client continues to lag backside the competition, and Gabe isn't quite the savior the PC gaming community hoped he'd become. Now, in 2022, we have Epic aggressively pushing forward with timed exclusives, essentially throwing Fortnite coin at a monopoly problem it claims to be looking to solve. The solution could exist correct in front of our optics from the honey Smooth publisher CD Projekt. Here's GOG Galaxy version 2.0 and it could unite everyone under a single roof.

All your games under one roof

Connecting all your launcher and storefront accounts takes but a few seconds.

GOG already had its Milky way customer every bit a Steam-low-cal experience, but the company is turning it into the one launcher to unite them all. Previously, you'd only find GOG-listed games in the Galaxy client and it was pretty basic in terms of community features. This is all fix to change with version 2.0. GOG Galaxy 2.0 is currently in closed beta but already you tin conspicuously see the direction CD Projekt is looking to take. Your GOG account is a base, which you then build upon by connecting all your other accounts, be information technology Steam, Origin or Xbox.

GOG Galaxy could become the only game launcher you'll need to use on PC.

Calculation new accounts to synchronize is a simple procedure, also. Depending on how deep the integration is, you'll be able to import all your games, launch them from within GOG Galaxy, sync achievements and game time, and even chat with friends or meet when they're online. That's the goal anyway. In its current form, there are a few features missing from the most common launchers supported by GOG Galaxy. At the time of writing, only Xbox and GOG are "officially supported" integrations; the rest are provided and maintained by the customs.

After connecting a few of my accounts, it was amazing to see the library begin to pull in all my games, achievements and other metadata. The entire process from logging into my accounts to seeing the last few games being added was around five minutes. GOG Galaxy attempts to match your games to its database of titles, much like Plex does with music, video and other media, which is usually accurate simply you tin tag stuff and change out images and icons if you really desire to micromanage everything.

Managing a GOG-bought game, but CD Projekt wants this process to be the same across the lath.

For now, friends are non imported, nor can yous chat cross-platform, but this is something CD Projekt boasts about fixing on its website so I can see these features being enabled before the new launcher makes information technology out of the beta phase. Information technology'southward not perfect and you volition need to accept all other launchers installed. You won't exist able to simply uninstall Steam, UPlay, Origin, Epic, and Unity. You'll need to have them installed for GOG to connect and burn up the launcher, which can then launch the game you want to play. It works ameliorate in practice than explained, I promise.

Keeping track of achievements, hours played, and games owned across platforms has never been this easy.

Not all platforms are supported, because why would they want to assist you leave their deals and promotions for another publisher's fancy new tool? CD Projekt is looking to the community for assistance hither. While the squad will work on securing partnerships and access to other launchers, it may be down to the community to add manual hooks for others to utilize with GOG Galaxy and CD Projekt already provides necessary APIs. Some community-provided integrations are already nowadays, but I could see this growing.

It'southward a shame that Microsoft still hasn't got the Microsoft Store quite right for PC gaming. After you lot've installed a fresh copy of Windows ten, you lot don't immediately head to the official shop from Microsoft to install all your favorite games ... unless you lot only play Minecraft Bedrock Edition. It's a missed opportunity for the company, every bit we've previously looked into. Microsoft could even become involved with CD Projekt when the visitor eventually decides to sort out the Microsoft Shop situation. Information technology could so get integration squared away for Xbox and Windows games so we can run and update them all from within GOG Galaxy.

Steam does this already ... kinda

Starting fresh.

Steam allows you to add all your externally purchased games (and fifty-fifty physically installed titles) as entries into your library. The but drawback to this implementation is the lack of Steam support for said titles. Y'all won't exist able to connect with friends and the wider community, nor will these games have dedicated pages for each listing, but at to the lowest degree you tin launch the game from within Steam, so long as at that place'south no incompatibility.

GOG takes this approach to the adjacent level by finer automating the process, making it all look good, functional enough to get you lot to remain in one location to launch all your games, and information technology has plans to further develop the platform and eternalize back up for third-political party platforms. Version 2.0 of the GOG Milky way client is shaping up to be the only launcher I'll need to use on a regular basis, and that'southward a swell thing.

Projekt CD has its bases covered in an increasingly paranoid world. No information is shared with third parties, according to the publisher, and all your information is removed from its servers if you lot disconnect an account. It clearly states no information is hoarded when connecting accounts. The integration API is also open up source so we tin peek at what's going on behind the scenes.

Yous can sign up for the GOG Galaxy 2.0 closed beta right now.

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AmazonBasics USB speakers ($xvi at Amazon)

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Razer mouse bungee ($twenty at Amazon)

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/gog-galaxy-20-preview

Posted by: thomasthadvating.blogspot.com

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