Well, I didn’t know some games on gog had drm, but seemingly a vast majority of them on gog are. I hope they start labelling them. Either way, gog usually makes it a mission to point out you don’t need a launcher to play gog games. A huge number of steam games will not launch without their steam integration or drm check working. Speaking practically you get a clear choice to keep your games when you buy them on gog. On steam not so much.
You can get the steam Linux support and steam input by adding your gog games as non steam games or using heroic or lutris or the like. It usually works pretty well.
My only point is that drm free and a better developer cut are significantly more important than the other stuff.
And yes I chose those specific gimmicks because while steam has useful features it also has features that purely exist to keep you in an ecosystem without actually offering any utility, like achievements, trading cards, steam funds, and other features I mentioned. I happily use steam, but choose to purchase my games DRM free and try to maximise developer cut where I can, but being tricked into using a single store front is not a smart move.
Probably less convenient than through steam, but just installing heroic launcher or bottles or lutris or the likes makes that really easy. Most of the games installed on my steam deck are through heroic, same with on my desktop pc. In fact heroic launcher was a significantly better experience for me compared to gog galaxy when I was on Windows.
I use steam input but still purchase games from gog. Just add the game as a non steam game. Heroic and lutris even do it for you.
I just mean that buying games from steam for the gimmicks, like achievements, trading cards, and forums gives you less control over the product your purchasing.
Something like heroic or bottles fixes this issue and gives you more agency to play it your way.
The difference is you can download and keep the installers from gog and back it up yourself. Gog just acts as a store front and download service. You always keep it. It’s the only true form of software ownership. If you had your steam account removed right now, some games you have installed would no longer launch.
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.
Wait keyboard and controller? At the same time??
Thanks for the advice, but the point is still there. In fact to double down on it, I’d still choose using stores that respect the devs and the liberty of consumers over using any of the services steam provides despite their convenience.