GOG launches its own “Games in Development” plan to take on Steam Early Access

Digital distribution retailer GOG.com has announced a new Games in Development plan that will operate much like Steam Early Access. It will allow gamers to buy a game that is currently in development, and their funds and advice will help aid the direction of the final product.

GOG separates itself from Steam by stating that games will be “hand-picked,” and it also offers a 14-day “no questions asked” refund policy. The first five games that will be available are Starbound, Ashes of the Singularity, Project Zomboid, TerraTech and The Curious Expedition, each of them already available on Steam Early Access.

GOG.com Managing Director Piotr Karwowski further explains.

“Our goal has always been to offer a selection of titles that are both excellent and worth your time. Nowadays, we’re seeing more games that are already great experiences while still in development. We want all gamers on GOG.com to have access to what these titles have to offer, but we want to get it right, carefully evaluating each and every game, offering a 14-day refund policy, and providing GOG Galaxy support with update rollback and more.”

The update rollback will allow players to access older versions of the game through GOG Galaxy if they do not like any changes that the developer has made.

“If a game update breaks something or introduces unwanted changes, GOG Galaxy lets you easily rollback to any previous version of your game while you wait for the fixes… As an added bonus, rollback actually stores historical snapshots throughout a game’s development — that means you can always revisit any point in the game’s history with a single click.”

The entire first wave of games are available now for a 15 to 40 percent discount until Feb. 2.