GOG Galaxy 2.0 App To Allow Buying Games From Other Stores

Apps and games stores are hot topics these days, with two of the biggest in the mobile world scrutinized for their alleged monopolies and unfair business practices. Although not as much in the spotlight, the PC gaming world also has its own Apple App Store in the form of Valve's Steam. Unsurprisingly, there is also a sort of anti-Steam in GOG's Galaxy 2.0 store which is now testing the ability to buy games from other platform's stores, starting with, to no one's shock, the Epic Games Store.

GOG, which used to stand for Good Old Games, has long shed off that much-loved but limited purpose. It has gone beyond simply offering older titles unencumbered by DRM to instead focusing on giving gamers more freedom in how they manage their games. It was for that purpose that the GOG Galaxy app was born.

Galaxy started out simply as a download and library manager for games bought from GOG itself. It then added library management features which eventually grew to embrace managing games installed by other game stores and launchers. Its announcement in July named the Epic Games Store as its first partner and might be the only partner so far. Now they're taking that relationship to a new level.

GOG Galaxy 2.0's newest beta feature is allowing gamers to buy games that are sold outside of GOG itself. That, of course, requires an agreement between GOG and another game store owner and so far the only one named is Epic Games again. GOG promises that games bought from Epic Games through Galaxy 2.0 also enjoy its usual 30-day refund policy and 24/7 customer support.

What GOG and Epic Games would probably proclaim as a victory for gamers is actually turning many GOG users away instead. Complaints about the app's alpha quality and stability top the list but there are is also very vocal opposition and concern about GOG's partnership with Epic Games who some gamers don't see as the champion of fairness that the game publisher is painting itself to be.