GOG.com's launcher, GOG Galaxy 2.0, has entered open beta. That means plebes like you and I can get in on it. Now all your good old games can have a singular hub. And I mean, thank goodness. The Start Bar on my computer is nothing but game launchers—it's game launchers all the way across: Bethesda Launcher, Blizzard Battle.net, EA Origin, Epic Games Store, Itch.io, Rockstar Launcher, Steam, Ubisoft UPlay, Windows Store, Xbox on PC (or whatever you'd call that thing), and folks with GeForce graphics cards can even launch games from GeForce Experience. Which I do. Because I'm insane for having so many launchers, so what's one more?
And then, of course, GOG Galaxy itself. GOG Galaxy 2.0, actually. You'll import all your games from PC and consoles, building and organizing them into one master collection. It'll track playtime stats, hours played, and games owned across all platforms. It can launch your PC games (i.e. Steam, Epic) but not consoles games (i.e. PlayStation, Nintendo). Several sorting and visual customizations—like game backgrounds and covers—are yours to manipulate. And a "games discovery" apparatus will help you keep track of upcoming releases, and see popular games among your friends and the community at large.
Steam is the #1 PC game launcher on the planet, featuring all of these things and more. Except for the absolutely stunning and entirely welcome idea of having a singular launcher across all those buttons crowding my Start Bar. That's the one thing that may very well have me kick start GOG Galaxy for more than just replays of Morrowind and Planescape: Torment. For the past couple years, I've tried acting like having a dozen different launchers didn't bother me. But I've exceeded my limit. I'm tired of having to go through lengthy updates every time I fire one up, just to see if I have Assassin's Creed on Steam, UPlay, or GOG. Oh whoops, I don't have it on any of those; I have it on Xbox 360.
Well thank you, GOG Galaxy 2.0, for letting me know that now with one click, one launcher. Video games will no longer leave me scratching my head, saying, "Now where did I leave that copy of Divinity: Original Sin II?" And subsequently letting me know, "Randy, you have it on PS4 and Steam already; you don't need to buy that new Switch version, mmkay?"
