Then they’re being deliberately obtuse to make a point. Valve treats downloading and installing as the same thing so needing a connection to “install” a steam game is functionally no different than needing a connection to “download” the installer from GOG and then installing the game. Once Steam has installed the game and it has no actual DRM you can just copy it wherever you like. GOG gives a much better package for storing your games but that doesn’t mean what Steam does is DRM.
I guess it’s the right place to ask even if it’s not really related to Sony and my move away from them.
I download and install my GOG games through Heroic and then move them to a hard drive after I’m finished enjoying them.
If GOG one day disappears, will I still be able to play the games that way or do I really have to separately download the offline installers which are separated in many files?
Realistically, you’ll always be able to download the offline installers from the high seas anyway.
will I still be able to play the games that way
Most of them will probably work, but there’s no real guarantee. Depends on whether the installers dumped critical files into your system / user folders.
Oh that’s not great as it would mean that I have to download the normal game through Heroic and download it a second time to get the offline installer.
For a 50gb game, it means allocating around 100gb for it.
Gog should clarify that situation a bit better.
Simulation6@sopuli.xyz 7 hours ago
I believe Steam games, even in offline mode, can only be run on systems where you have installed Steam and logged into it. If you copy the game files to a disc and give it to a friend, they would not be able to play it.
AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 6 hours ago
It depends on whether drm is enabled. If it is not, then the game files on the disc would work. It is the publisher’s choice whether to enable drm.
Simulation6@sopuli.xyz 5 hours ago
Why is this so hard to determine? I found two items online that indicated what I said was true for all Steam games. Maybe it has changed and I was reading old posts?
AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 5 hours ago
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
Steam doesn’t advertise a game’s DRM status. DRM-free Steam game lists are maintained on wikis by users testing them. Most of the time they’re not DRM-free, but sometimes the developer is motivated to release them that way.