This is excellent news to lead retro gaming into 2026.
CD Projekt co-founder Michał Kiciński has acquired full ownership of GOG, taking the DRM-free storefront out of the wider CD Projekt Group and putting it back under the control of one of the people who helped create it in the first place. The deal is valued at £18.7 million (PLN 90.7 million), but the money side of things is almost beside the point.
GOG has always stood slightly apart from the rest of the digital games market. While everyone else has spent the last decade locking games behind launchers, subscriptions, always-online checks and increasingly fragile libraries, GOG has stuck to a very unfashionable idea: when you buy a game, you own it.
This is what GOG was always meant to be
Kiciński helped found GOG back in 2008 with a simple goal: bring classic games back, make them work on modern PCs, and make sure they didn’t disappear again.
This was a win against DRM and related tactics by game publishers. Titles were not rented, not “available while the licence lasts” — they were just owned. But the direction of travel back in the DRM-heavy era was clear, making the arrival of GOG a breath of fresh air.
That thinking runs through his comments on the acquisition. Kiciński talks about playing classic games himself, about how well-crafted older titles often deliver more pure enjoyment than a lot of modern releases, and about how flooded the market has become with low-quality games that vanish as fast as they appear.
It’s hard to argue with any of that.
As someone who spends a lot of time writing about old games — and worrying about how easily they can be lost — GOG’s role has always felt hugely important to me. Preservation doesn’t just mean museums and archives. It also means being able to buy a game, download it, install it, and still play it years later without jumping through hoops.
With console games, it’s pretty straightforward; for PC classics, not so much. So, GOG’s preservation programs are vital.
Preservation really means access
One of the strongest things GOG does is the unglamorous work: fixing old games so they actually run properly on modern systems. That’s not exciting in the way a flashy remaster is, but it matters far more in the long run.
GOG managing director Maciej Gołębiewski summed it up neatly, pointing out how quickly classic games are forgotten as the market gets more crowded and more locked-in. GOG’s response isn’t to chase trends, but to double down on reviving classics and keeping them playable.
In doing so, those games are made accessible to all.
Still getting The Witcher (and whatever’s next)
Importantly, GOG isn’t cutting itself off from CD Projekt’s future. A new distribution agreement means upcoming CD Projekt RED games will still launch on GOG, including future Witcher and Cyberpunk titles.
So yes, you’ll still be able to buy them DRM-free, download them, back them up, and play them without worrying about servers or accounts. In 2026, that’s starting to feel almost radical.
Looking ahead, not just back
Kiciński also teased new games with a strong retro spirit arriving on GOG in 2026 — some of which he’s personally involved in.
Taken as a whole, this move feels like the perfect evolution for GOG. As we roll into the next half decade, with more games than ever at risk of disappearing behind licences, subscriptions, and corporate reshuffles, GOG going fully independent under its original co-founder is genuinely good news.
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Christian Cawley is the founder and editor of GamingRetro.co.uk, a website dedicated to classic and retro gaming. With over 20 years of experience writing for technology and gaming publications, he brings considerable expertise and a lifelong passion for interactive entertainment, particularly games from the 8-bit and 16-bit eras.
Christian has written for leading outlets including TechRadar, Computer Weekly, Linux Format, and MakeUseOf, where he also served as Deputy Editor.
When he’s not exploring vintage consoles or retro PCs, Christian enjoys building with LEGO, playing cigar box guitar, and experimenting in the kitchen.
