Structure Changed, Philosophy Remained.
On December 31, 2025, CD Projekt sold subsidiary GOG. CD Projekt (holding CD Projekt RED) -- the Polish game company behind The Witcher series and Cyberpunk 2077 that reached global AAA developer status -- ended after 17 years the structure of holding development and distribution together. The transaction: GOG sold to Michal Kicinski (CD Projekt co-founder, still a major shareholder) -- an insider acquisition preserving GOGs philosophical identity while separating it from CD Projekt REDs AAA development focus. GOG official blog confirmed: "GOG mission does not change" -- "Make Games Live Forever" explicitly stated; "freedom, independence, control" as platform identity; Preservation Program (compatibility maintenance, quality testing, offline installer provision) continues as the concrete operational expression of this mission. The "preservation" framing: whether preservation was the sole motivation is difficult to confirm from external evidence. But the alignment between the acquirer (a founder with deep philosophical investment in GOGs original mission) and the stated mission creates structural incentive for continuity. The DRM-free principle as existential: GOGs identity is inseparable from DRM-free -- a GOG that abandons this principle ceases to be GOG in any meaningful sense; the acquisition by someone with co-founder attachment to the original vision provides the strongest available structural protection for this principle. What this means for digital game preservation: GOGs continued operation ensures the market memory that "digital purchase can mean genuine ownership" is not entirely lost as subscription and cloud gaming models advance.
