GOG has launched an all-new project to raise awareness of censorship in gaming: FreedomToBuy.Games.
The digital games platform, which has long been campaigning for the better preservation of DRM-free games, said it believes that “if a game is legal and responsibly made, players should be able to enjoy it today – and decades from now”.
Consequently, for the next 28-ish hours or so at the time of writing, it is offering up 13 games for free – including Postal 2, Agony, and House Party – “because if a game is legal, you should be free to buy it”.
“Thanks to the dedication of developers and publishers, we are launching FreedomToBuy.games,” the company said in a statement. “To raise awareness on censorship in gaming, 13 games are now available for free for 48h as a part of stand for creative freedom and preservation.
“We believe that if a game is legal and responsibly made, players should be able to enjoy it today – and decades from now. It’s our statement: when games are delisted today because of discomfort, reviving them tomorrow becomes exponentially harder.”
The campaign comes after itch.io creators began reporting their NSFW games were no longer being displayed in search results on the platform in June. Shortly thereafter, we learned itch.io had “deindexed” all NSFW content following discussions with payment processors contacted by the same Australian pressure group that recently targeted Steam, which similarly “retired” unspecified NSFW titles and introduced vague new rules banning “certain kinds of adult content” from its own PC storefront.
GOG announced its Preservation Program last November, when 100 games were part of the line-up. That list has continued to expand since then with a regular influx of new additions – including Monolith Production’s much-loved horror shooter FEAR, which was added to “honour [the studio’s] legacy” in February, following Monolith’s shock closure.