CD Projekt RED Just Sold GOG for $25M — The DRM-Free Store Gets Its Freedom
CD Projekt RED has sold the beloved GOG digital store to an original co-founder for $25 million, giving the DRM-free platform full independence for the first time.
If you have a soft spot for DRM-free PC gaming, this is big news: CD Projekt RED has sold GOG — its Good Old Games digital distribution platform — to an original co-founder for $25 million. The deal gives GOG full independence for the first time in the platform history, separating it entirely from the studio behind The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077.
GOG has always been the indie, DRM-free alternative to Steam. No launchers that phone home. No licenses that disappear when a publisher pulls a game. Just the game, downloaded to your machine, yours to keep. That philosophy has earned GOG a dedicated fanbase — even if it never came close to Steam market share.
Why CD Projekt RED Is Selling
Running a digital storefront is a very different business from making AAA games. GOG and CD Projekt RED have always been operating in parallel but with very different goals, resources, and cultures. The sale makes strategic sense: CDPR can focus entirely on game development — The Witcher 4 is in active production — while GOG gets the independence to chart its own course without being the smaller sibling of a game studio.
The $25 million price tag is notably modest for a platform of GOG age and library size, reflecting the reality that competing with Steam, the Epic Games Store, and now Xbox and PlayStation PC stores is a tough business. Still, for an original founder to buy it back, there is clearly belief in GOG mission.
What Changes for GOG Users
In the short term: not much. The library stays. The DRM-free promise stays. GOG Galaxy continues. The real question is what the new leadership does with the freedom to make bold moves without board approval from a game studio parent.
A few things GOG could now pursue more aggressively:
- Broader publisher deals — without a parent studio, GOG loses potential conflicts of interest that may have put some publishers off
- Better revenue sharing — to attract indie developers who feel squeezed by Steam 30% cut
- Platform features — GOG Galaxy has always lagged behind Steam socially; independence might mean more dev resources
The Bigger Picture
This deal is a reminder that the PC gaming market, despite being dominated by Steam, still has room for platforms with strong identities. GOG identity — no DRM, fair ownership, classic game preservation — is genuinely differentiated. Whether $25 million and independence is enough to grow that identity into something that truly challenges the status quo is the interesting question going forward.
For now, GOG fans should take this as good news. The platform is not shutting down, and it has a founder who clearly believes in what it stands for enough to buy it back.