Is it ever coming to GOG or similar?

[kony2023 0]

It's my the most played game ever, but I'd love to have DRM free version of ArmA 3 (as well as ArmA 2) that I could play on my laptop offline when travelling since Steam offline more often does not work than works. Even if it works I can never be sure. Are there any plans of releasing this on GOG or somewhere else as an installation file that requires no internet connection to install and run?

OFP and the first ArmA have such, but not 2 and 3. It would be great to have a DRM free version of them.

[Dedmen 2714]

The game's name is Arma, not ArmA.

No it will not, it has been looked into in the past, the multiplayer part is too dependent on Steam. We could make a singleplayer only version but I don't see much sense in that.

 

The first game's were fine because they defined your identity via your name or serial key you used to activate the game. But since the transition to Steam all games use the Steam account ID and its integral to all multiplayer functionality.

[Janez 531]

4 hours ago, kony2023 said:

OFP and the first ArmA have such, but not 2 and 3. It would be great to have a DRM free version of them.

Yeah, online multiplayer in those used to run on GameSpy, which went down in 2013. Arma 2 OA/CO and was transferred to Steam to retain MP functionality, Arma 3 released on Steam and other older titles remained single-player only, as Dedmen explained, and can therefore be on GoG. Would love a GoG version at some point down the line though, for game preservation sake if nothing else.

[POLPOX 778]

Also this could mean you need to forget about Steam Workshop.

[Janez 531]

1 hour ago, POLPOX said:

Also this could mean you need to forget about Steam Workshop.

It is indeed sad it came to this that mod hosting is so centralized after AH went down. Valve also took down most of online tools that allowed you to download the files directly. Thankfully, BIF still remains 💪 and a lot of authors provide mirrors or even have GitHub and similar projects. Even when mirrors are dead, at least for scripts, code can often be found in actual posts, usually in spoiler wraps.

 

At the end of April, Ubisoft decided to shut down their forums. Granted for past decade, they did everything they could to prevent modding and replace it with lootboxes and microtransactions but sad days ahead nonetheless. The grip tightens, RIP.

[kony2023 0]

Sad to hear, but understandable. 

[Rimland 1]

On 5/5/2023 at 6:30 PM, Dedmen said:

No it will not, it has been looked into in the past, the multiplayer part is too dependent on Steam. We could make a singleplayer only version but I don't see much sense in that.

 

The first game's were fine because they defined your identity via your name or serial key you used to activate the game. But since the transition to Steam all games use the Steam account ID and its integral to all multiplayer functionality.

 

Sorry to bump this, but while I understand this reasoning with Arma 3 given how integrated it is with the Steam framework (and still a very live game), does the same still actually apply to Arma 2 (and its DLCs)?

I would assume that its MP segment is not as relevant/active nowadays and thus not really an obstacle for (re-)releasing Arma 2 (even a SP-only one) on GOG. Would it be possible to consider it in the future? Like others have mentioned, I too would love a DRM-free version of the game, even if (or rather especially for) preservation sake.

[Jackal326 1181]

If it hasn't happened already, given how old Arma2 is now, then I highly doubt it will ever happen...

[Rimland 1]

I´m staying cautiously positive, as I think it depends solely on BIS´s willingness to release it there. There have been other, similarly old or even older games which have seen a release on GOG over the past few years, so it´s definitely not impossible. They just need to be up for it. And Arma 2 already used to be there at one point.