GOG (formerly known as Good Old Games) is one of the most popular spots to buy, download, and curate PC game collections. It competes directly against the behemoth Steam, the oft-maligned Epic Games, and plenty of other PC game storefronts, and over the years it has garnered quite a positive reputation among gamers.
Why? It’s all about GOG’s focus on consumer rights and actual game ownership, which in 2026 is becoming increasingly rare.
GOG’s games don’t come with DRM. Older titles are often fixed, patched, and updated to run on new hardware. There’s a rather generous 30-day return policy, and there are frequent sales with massive discounts.
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Yeah, it all looks great, and I’m a huge fan of GOG.
So where is this going? I recently came across a user-maintained catalog of “Games that treat GOG customers as 2nd Class.” It was just updated on August 11, 2026, and I’m shocked at how many titles are listed as having some sort of disparity compared to other digital storefronts.
GOG’s game version disparity is a lot worse than I ever expected
I was aware that some GOG games weren’t the same as the versions found in other stores, but I never knew the problem was this widespread.
This effort to track issues with GOG versions of games actually got started in 2018 in a GOG forum thread that’s still alive today, now reaching 400+ pages with thousands of replies.
The spreadsheet catalog contains a list of 1,140 games with at least one issue. There are 1,531 issues in total. Those numbers are not typos. Sure, some of the issues are less severe than others, but that doesn’t mean GOG customers should receive an inferior product.
The catalog tracks the following issues:
- Missing updates (308 total issues)
- Missing languages (100 total issues)
- Missing free DLC (51 total issues)
- Missing paid DLC (200 total issues)
- Missing features (111 total issues)
- Missing soundtrack (439 total issues)
- Missing builds (278 total issues)
- Region locking (12 total issues)
Sources are provided for many of the games listed as having issues, and others are sourced directly from first-hand experiences.
Out of all the 1,140 games on the list, there are 17 special mentions. The game The Messenger from Devolver Digital, one of my favorite publishers, is flagged as special. Why? The GOG version is missing a Unity security update, and the soundtrack files are of a “lower quality than on Steam.”
Another special mention is given to the game Nuclear Throne for its five issues, including a missing 10-year anniversary update, missing languages, missing challenges, missing soundtrack, and missing Linux version.
I could go on with plenty more examples, but I’m sure you get the idea. Missing soundtracks seem to be the most frequent offender with 439 total issues, while missing updates place second with 308 total issues.
Why do some developers seem to give GOG less attention?
GOG’s disparity with other storefronts isn’t really GOG’s fault. It’s ultimately up to the developers and publishers what to include in their games when they’re sent to GOG, and what to update thereafter.
Devolver Digital and THQ Nordic GmbH are both at the top of the list with 29 issues each in total across their published games.
Correct me in the comments section below if I’m wrong, but Steam’s far larger user base and its savvy workshop integration make it the go-to spot for most game companies. Much more attention is paid to Steam, and GOG seems often to be treated as “we’ll get to it when we can.”
And because GOG requires games to be DRM-free, there’s definitely extra work to be done in many scenarios. For older games that may or may not have a dedicated development team, this is especially painful.
GOG is a great place to shop if you care about game preservation and proper functioning of classic titles, but you’re still paying for the games. There’s a certain irony here in buying a game to preserve it properly, only to find out that it’s missing one or several features that you could have received if you’d purchased it, say, on Steam.
My advice for the next time you’re buying a game on GOG
Like I said, I support GOG and its mission to deliver DRM-free games. However, I was not aware of how many titles have issues.
From now on, I’ll be checking the spreadsheet carefully any time I head over to GOG and pick up a new game. I suggest you do the same, lest you end up with a DRM-free version that’s missing the content you bought it for in the first place.
Were you aware of how many games on GOG have missing content and issues compared to other storefronts? Has it tainted your opinion of GOG? Is there any hope to solve the major issues that some of these games have? Let me know in the comments section below!
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