You’ve got ten days to pick up the original Warcraft I & II from GOG before Blizzard pull them, but GOG will support their preservation forever
They'll still work work
In response to a decision from Blizzard to pull the original Warcraft I & II from GOG later this month, following the release of the remastered versions, GOG have updated their preservation policy. The real time strategy games will no longer be available to buy on the storefront from the 13th of December, but GOG have released a statement committing to maintaining and updating the games for existing owners as part of their preservation program. If you don’t own them already, they’re also currently on discount as a bundle.
"We’re deeply saddened to share the news that Warcraft: Orcs and Humans and Warcraft II will leave our store on December 13th, 2024,” wrote GOG on X. "Seeing these masterpieces leave our store is tough, but it also serves as another reminder of why our mission at GOG is so important. With that in mind, we’ve decided to update one aspect of the GOG Preservation Program’s policy." Here's the critical line in ceremonial blockquote attire:
Going forward, even if a game is no longer available for sale on GOG, as part of the GOG Preservation Program, it will continue to be maintained and updated by us, ensuring it remains compatible with modern and future systems.
They go on to say that they’re incredibly proud of the work they’ve done on both games, and that anyone who’s purchased them before their removal will "still enjoy the most compatible, high-quality versions," including offline installers. They then go on to say the word ‘gamers’ a few more times, presumably pausing while they type to imagine rapturous applause. It’s a great initiative, GOG, but I’ve seen dairy farmers milk it less. Love you though!
GOG recently relaunched 100 games newly minted with the "Good Old Game status", which means they’ll be kept updated, preserved, and playable in perpetuity. As James deftly pointed out in his coverage, "GOG ultimately exist to sell games, not immortalise them in museums, nor hand them out to people who owned an original CD-ROM copy back in yesteryear," though it’s "better that someone profits off a healthy game preservation pipeline than to not have one at all."
And that’s about where I land too: without some sort of profit incentive, this stuff just isn’t going to happen without a serious fight. "I don’t believe that we’ve found a commercial solution for your video game staying alive forever. No one is against the idea of video game preservation, but companies and their shareholders are against the idea of not making a profit," Frank Cifaldi of the Video Game History Foundation told me earlier this year . "It's a technical black hole; It costs a lot of money to port a video game, and if the margins are just not there, then there's not a business rationale to keep things alive."