GOG Puts A Hit On Hitman From Its Store After Fierce DRM Backlash

Good Old Games (GOG) is generally a decent place to score games that aren't marred by annoying digital rights management, aka DRM, schemes. However, when the platform released IO Interactive’s 2016 shooter “Hitman,” users were angry to find a form of DRM still entangled with the title, which restricted offline play. Since then, GOG appears to have backed down and apologized to its community, which was initially built around DRM-free gaming.

In late September, GOG announced “an astounding 70% discount” for Hitman – Game of The Year Edition, among other Hitman series deals. To many, this seemed too good to pass up, considering the popularity of the titles and IO Interactive’s previous track record for tying game progression to an online connection. However, when customers found that this limitation was still present and gameplay was restricted if a user didn't have an active internet connection, many began to review-bomb the game.


These complaints also made their way over to the GOG Forum post that initially announced the sale, resulting in over 2000 negative replies. Initially, the response was to have players request a refund for the game if they were not satisfied, and the company would disregard the review bombing. However, the tone seems to have shifted as the company announced that Hitman GOTY Edition has been removed from the GOG catalog altogether. Further, GOG “apologize[s] for the confusion and anger generated by this situation,” and hopes this can be a pivotal point to better communication with the community.

Since this announcement, over 200 comments have flooded in, praising the company for this move. However, this is not likely to be the last we hear of this issue, since many users are calling for GOG to clarify and clearly state its stance on DRM and how it will factor into single-player games on the platform moving forward. Hopefully, GOG will be able to quell these concerns soon, so stay tuned to HotHardware for future updates on GOG’s official DRM stance.