With growing competition from new stores like Epic Games Store and Discord, GoG is making a play to become the major hub for all PC game stores and it might just manage it, with early support from Microsoft secured so far. The response from those who have had early access to the launcher too, has been pretty positive.
One of the major issues facing PC gamers in 2019 is that their expansive game libraries are more segregated than ever. From GoG, to Steam, to Epic Games, to Humble Bundle, to Origin, to UPlay... there are a lot of game launchers out there and if you don't have one installed, you might actually forget what games you own on it. While the developers of each are battling it out to see who can pull in the most number of players with the most high-end exclusives, GoG is looking to go in another directly entirely, by opting to become the hub store that holds links to all of your other games on every other digital storefront.
The existing Galaxy launcher isn't too distinct from Steam. It's a little more visually stimulating, a little more modern, a little more versatile, but it lacks the massive game library and it doesn't have access to the games from other stores at all, just like the others. GoG Galaxy 2.0 though, could be quite different to that. As PCGamer found out with its hands-on time, the new launcher brings together every game you own on every platform, letting you look at stats, achievements, play times and leaderboards for any of them, PC or console.
The Galaxy launcher can install any of those games if they need it, logging into the respective launcher for you, or you can even start the games if they're ready to play already.
There is currently official support from Microsoft, with custom icons to show for it, but unofficial support works with Origin, UPlay, Epic games Store, Battle.net, and Steam. There's even some PSN support, although it's not quite as fleshed out as the Xbox solution.
There's also plug-in support too, which has proved huge even in the client's beta state. There are ways to import iTunes libraries of music and games, and the ability to stream from an Xbox to a Mac.
GoG Galaxy 2 will enter closed beta in the coming weeks, with more public testing opened up in the future.
Image source: PCGamer
