GOG Galaxy is coming to Linux: why this matters (and why it’s harder than it sounds)

For years, “Linux gaming is finally happening” has been a running joke with a kernel of truth. Proton and the Steam Deck changed the reality of what you can play, and distros like Bazzite made a modern PC feel increasingly console-like.

But even now, a big part of PC gaming isn’t just the games — it’s the launchers: the storefront clients, the library managers, the account systems, and the “one place where everything lives.”

So the news that GOG is recruiting specifically to bring GOG Galaxy to Linux — and that the company says work is already underway — is a bigger deal than it seems. It’s not just another desktop app. It’s a signal that Linux is becoming a first-class target for mainstream game distribution.

Quick refresher: what GOG is, and what Galaxy does

GOG.com (originally “Good Old Games”) has always been a bit different from Steam and the console platforms:

It emphasizes DRM-free purchases where possible.
It positions itself as a home for preservation, catalog depth, and ownership.
It’s curated more tightly than the anything-goes chaos of some other stores.

GOG Galaxy, the client, is GOG’s attempt at being the user’s “gaming home base.” Depending on how you use it, it can be:

A storefront and downloader.
A library manager.
A way to integrate collections from multiple platforms.
A community / update / overlay surface.

On Windows and macOS, those features are table stakes. On Linux, they’re often missing, fragmented, or community-built.

Why a native Linux client matters (even in the age of Proton)

A skeptical response might be: “Who cares? You can already run Windows games on Linux with Proton.”

That’s true for many games, but it misses the point.

A platform becomes “real” when the ecosystem tools treat it as normal.

1) Launchers are still the front door

Even if a game runs great under Proton, you often still need:

Account auth flows
Cloud saves
Patch delivery
DLC entitlement checks
Social features

Relying on Wine wrappers for the launcher can be fragile: a Chromium component update, a DRM change, or a new anti-cheat policy can break things overnight.

A native client means:

Better long-term maintenance
Less compatibility whack-a-mole
Fewer “it works if you set WINEPREFIX to…” workarounds

2) Linux users are increasingly buyers, not just tinkerers

The Steam Deck created a new Linux audience: people who might never install Ubuntu, but who are happy using a Linux-based system as a console.

That audience buys games. They subscribe. They expect things to work.

If a store wants access to that spending, it has to meet that expectation.

3) Native clients can unlock platform-specific improvements

Linux is not “Windows without a Start menu.” It has different strengths:

Containerized installs
More transparent file systems
Better compositing options in some setups
A culture of scripting and automation

A good Linux client can integrate with distro packaging, support multiple libraries, and work cleanly with the ecosystem.

The hard part: shipping a big cross-platform desktop app on Linux

A job listing is just a job listing — but GOG’s listing is revealing because it implicitly admits what makes this difficult.

GOG describes Galaxy as a long-lived product with a large C++ codebase, and calls Linux the “next major frontier.” That usually means at least four challenges.

1) The Linux “one platform” problem

Linux isn’t one platform. It’s:

Many distros
Many desktop environments
Different library versions
Different GPU driver stacks
Different audio stacks

When a Windows launcher breaks on Windows, it breaks for everyone in similar ways.

When a Linux launcher breaks, it might break only on:

A specific distro version
A specific GPU vendor
A specific Wayland/X11 configuration
A specific glibc / libc variant

Supporting Linux at scale means building resilience into packaging and testing.

2) Distribution and packaging politics

On Linux, “How do I install this?” is not just a question — it’s a battleground.

Options include:

.deb / .rpm packages (distro-specific)
Flatpak (sandboxed, popular in desktops)
Snap (Ubuntu-centric and controversial)
AppImage (portable, but can be messy)

Each has tradeoffs around permissions, GPU access, filesystem access, and update behavior.

A launcher needs to:

Download large files reliably
Patch efficiently
Integrate with system libraries where appropriate
Access controllers and devices

Sandboxing can complicate that.

3) Anti-cheat, DRM, and third-party runtime dependencies

Even if GOG itself is DRM-light, many games depend on:

third-party launchers
middleware
online services

Linux support can quickly become “support everything under Wine,” which is not the same as native.

A store client has to decide:

What it officially supports
What it leaves to the community
How it communicates compatibility (and refunds)

4) Support expectations and QA cost

The biggest invisible cost in software is support.

A Linux port is not a one-time effort. It’s:

CI build systems
automated tests
crash telemetry (with privacy constraints)
a support team trained for Linux-specific issues

If GOG does this well, it’s not just “Galaxy runs on Linux.” It’s “Galaxy is a stable product on Linux.”

Why now: the business logic behind the move

The obvious catalyst is Steam Deck momentum. But there’s a deeper business calculus:

Linux is becoming strategically important for gaming distribution because it breaks the “Windows tax” on PC.
Microsoft has been pushing more baked-in services and AI features into Windows, which annoys some gamers and power users.
A portion of the enthusiast audience is actively shopping for alternatives.

If you believe that audience will grow, then being early on Linux becomes a way to differentiate.

And GOG’s brand — ownership, preservation, DRM-free — aligns naturally with the Linux ethos.

What a “good” Galaxy-on-Linux launch would look like

If you’re a Linux user, the minimum viable experience is:

Install is straightforward
Downloads are fast and resumable
Patching doesn’t corrupt libraries
The client doesn’t constantly crash under Wayland

But the “GOG-level” experience could go further:

1) Clear compatibility labeling

Not every game in the catalog will be native.

The win is honest labeling, such as:

Native Linux build
Works via Proton/Wine (tested)
Unverified

2) Flatpak done right (or an equivalent)

A launcher is a perfect Flatpak candidate, if GPU and filesystem permissions are handled cleanly.

A well-maintained Flatpak also reduces the “distro explosion” problem.

3) Library import and cloud saves that actually work

If Galaxy is meant to be a hub, it has to integrate smoothly.

This is where Linux often gets the “second class citizen” treatment.

4) Respect for user control

Linux users care about:

where files go
how updates happen
how much telemetry exists

GOG’s brand gives it permission to be more respectful than typical launchers.

Bottom line

A native GOG Galaxy client for Linux would be a meaningful step in making Linux a mainstream gaming platform — not because it changes what Linux can do, but because it changes what major game distributors treat as worth supporting.

The hard part won’t be the first working build. It will be packaging, QA across messy real-world setups, and setting expectations for what’s supported. If GOG gets those parts right, it won’t just win goodwill — it will win customers.