GOG's new owner can't stand Windows either: 'It's such poor-quality software… I can't believe it!'
"Windows sucks" feels like one of the most uncontroversial statements you can make online these days. Between AI guff, constant upselling (would you like to purchase an Office 365 subscription? No? Okay I'll ask again tomorrow), and myriad other reasons to be sick to the back teeth of Microsoft, it kind of feels like we're all trapped beating on the glass of an OS determined to make itself worse with every update (well, I'm not: I installed Linux).
At least it's not just you and me. Over the course of a wide-ranging chat about GOG's now-independent future, I asked new owner Michał Kiciński and managing director Maciej Gołębiewski if the storefront had much interest in the ongoing backlash against Windows and gamers' embrace—however small—of Linux. I got, well, two answers.
The first, from Gołębiewski, was straightforward: "Yes, we are." In fact, GOG has made Linux "one of the things that we've put in our strategy for this year to look closer at." Alas, that's pretty much all the detail he's willing to give. "I don't want to commit to any specifics, but certainly you will see this trend, and we also see that Linux is close to the hearts of our users, so we probably could do better on that front, and that's something that we'll be looking at."
Kiciński's answer was a little more… cathartic? "I'm really surprised at Windows," he said. "It's such poor-quality software and product, and I'm so surprised that it's [spent] so many years on the market. I can't believe it!"
For his part, Kiciński has switched to macOS, but "I sometimes have to fix my mum's computer or my father's computer with Windows, [and] like, it's unbelievable… So I'm not surprised that people gravitate outside of the Windows ecosystem. It's not the best ecosystem." Boy, ain't that the truth.
So if you ask me, I'd be surprised if GOG didn't hop aboard the Linux train that Valve kicked into high gear with the Steam Deck. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think we're gonna see a GOG Deck any time soon, but better Linux support for games on the platform? Or at least for those in GOG's Game Preservation program? It doesn't sound unlikely to me.
2026 games: All the upcoming games
Best PC games: Our all-time favorites
Free PC games: Freebie fest
Best FPS games: Finest gunplay
Best RPGs: Grand adventures
Best co-op games: Better together