There was a bit of a blowup in January when
Here's the banner in question, courtesy of
GOG itself declined to officially in the immediate wake of the controversy, although a rep did say the company was "aware of the conversations happening around this topic and the assumptions that can go with it." Now it has made a statement on the matter, though, as part of an
"We’re not planning on making absolute statements in either direction," GOG managing director Maciej Gołębiewski wrote. "AI tools are one of many technologies we test and try out, and in some contexts it genuinely helps us push the company (and the mission) forward.
"What we will change, though, is how and where those tools are used; we understand that using new technology doesn’t mean skipping human judgment."
That's not too far off the position adopted by other game companies, maybe most notably Larian, which found itself caught up in an
"Absolutely terrible response. You need an absolute statement at this point,"
"GOG has built its business and reputation on certain core beliefs about DRM and ownership,"
It goes on like that for a while. Further down the thread, Gołębiewski reposted the response so other people asking the same question could more easily see the answer, and received similar replies.
I think GOG might find it hard to hunker down and wait for all of this to blow over. As numerous redditors point out, I feel like there's a perceived purity to GOG: While other storefronts are doing their utmost to squeeze every dime possible out of gamers, GOG just wants folks to play some cool games and be happy.
Which is nonsense, of course (and I say that as a GOG fan), it's a business just like any other, and the bottom line is, well, the bottom line. But it does face kind of a unique challenge on that front: The role that AI might play in game preservation is already contentious—in 2025, Xbox boss Phil Spencer imagined a world where an AI model could use gameplay data and video to
One redditor also expressed concern about KosmicznaPluskwa, the GOG artist, who left the GOG Cafe Discord without warning a few days after speaking out on the initial AI art controversy. "Leaving the Discord server was a personal decision and we understand it. As mentioned, spotlight and social pressure can be overwhelming, this is a difficult situation for us internally as well," Gołębiewski
