GOG has announced it’s kicking off a new preservation program that’ll see it commit extra resources to making sure a selection of the kinda old to very old titles it offers run well across a variety of modern and future hardware.
100 games have been picked out to receive the program’s new stamp out of the gate, including the likes of Fallout: New Vegas, Diablo + Hellfire, and Dragon Age Origins’ Ultimate Edition. The PC storefront – which is owned by Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt – outlining plans to expand that pool going forwards.
GOG writes that games which are part of the program will be “always be up to date and ready to run on current and future PC setups” thanks to testing and updates from GOG’s team and be “the most complete version possible” in terms of extras like manuals and DLC. They’ll also receive tech support from GOG itself and work with the storefront’s offline installers.
“GOG, founded 16 years ago to preserve games, has made 2024 pivotal with the restoration of Alpha Protocol and classic Resident Evil titles,” Maciej Gołębiewski, GOG’s managing director said, “These releases embody our work: reviving games built on outdated, bespoke tech that original creators can no longer maintain. With the GOG Preservation Program, we continue our mission to make games live forever.”
In terms of the difference between games like this that do become part of the program – receiving the nice little logo that GOG’s designed to signify that they are – GOG says that classic games you buy from it that aren’t part of the program will “not necessarily” be any any worse a shape. GOG senior business development manager Marcin Paczyński confirmed to VG247 that program “will not bring immediate changes to the pricing of games included in it”, adding: “Our focus is on making sure that players get the best possible edition of these games, and we want to keep that quality accessible and fairly priced.”
Regarding how the initial pool of 100 titles – which also includes 1992’s Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis if you want to do some pre-Great Circle Nazi punching – came together, Paczyński tells us: “We prioritised games that have had a profound impact on gaming history and are beloved by the community. Then we assessed the technical feasibility of preserving each game, focusing on where our efforts would provide a clear, tangible improvement.
The digital distribution platform says that its current goal is for “hundreds of games to be stamped by the end of 2025” and eventually for “all games, whether recent or classic” to become part of the program, but also acknowledges that, in some cases, that might not just be its decision to make. “While we recognize the vast number of games released over the years, our proven track record gives us the confidence to expand this program thoughtfully and effectively,” Paczyński says of taking on this “ambitious” target.
It’s also worth noting that the program is starting off as a Windows-only thing, though GOG is keeping open the possibility for it to expand to other operating systems like Linux down the line.
What do you think of the idea of this new preservation program? Let us know below!
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