A redditor named Snolus detailed an odd and unhappy encounter with a TinyBuild rep earlier this week, in which they were told that TinyBuild's games on GOG generally aren't given updates or DLC because of the lack of DRM.
"Updating games on GOG is very unlikely because games are continuously torrented through DRM-free builds," the rep said. "We appreciate people who purchase our games via any playform however we have to be smart in business and knowing that updated versions of games being stolen DRM free is not smart business."
Some TinyBuild games on GOG are definitely lacking content that's available on Steam: A soundtrack and High Crimes DLC are available for Party Hard on Steam, for instance, but are nowhere to be seen on GOG. That apparently was the motivating factor behind Snolus' initial post. "I felt that this issue should be more widely known than it currently is, and it seems only a fraction of GOG customers actually use the forums," they wrote. "Hopefully more of us will be made aware this way."
The reaction to the post was understandably negative, and gained enough attention that a GOG rep weighed in to say that "we’re currently in talks with tinyBuild and trying to find the best possible solution to this situation." More recently, it prompted TinyBuild CEO Alex Nichiporchik to "clear the air" with a message stating that the rep was simply incorrect.
"Let me start by saying none of those views represent tinyBuild's position. What happened is that we didn't do proper training for our community management team on the subject matter, and the result blew up in our face," Nichiporchik wrote. "I personally grew up in the pre-DRM era, and love having all my games and OSTs available anywhere, not requiring an online connection or a launcher."
"GOG has always been a great partner to work with, and in our intake for community managers we simply didn't touch upon the incredibly important subject of DRM-free builds for partners and how they're supported. This is completely on us, and first thing next week I'm gathering the whole team to brief them on our position and how to handle situations like these."
Nichiporchik said that TinyBuild games don't always get DRM-free updates because of "platform-specific dependencies," such as level editors that rely on Steamworks. "Making all of that work offline means designing local systems which most smaller teams don't have the capacity to do," he wrote.
He acknowledged that the explanation doesn't address things like missing DLC and game soundtracks, but didn't go further to actually explain why GOG lags on that front. He did, however, say that TinyBuild has begun the process of bringing those games up to date.
"First thing Monday we'll go through all builds on GOG and update them where possible," he wrote. "I also want to figure out a more transparent way of communicating which build exactly you're getting to avoid confusion on store listings for DRM-free builds."
I've reached out to TinyBuild for more information and will update if I receive a reply.
