When you think of GOG you think about DRM-Free, classic games, the color purple and obviously – game preservation. But it’s not all that we do. At GOG we try to inject some fun, some charity and some easter eggs into what we do – both in the office and on our website.
As part of our ongoing Winter Sale, we’re excited to share some fun facts about GOG with you today! If you’re new here, you’ll find plenty of interesting tidbits, and even our most battle-hardened DRM-free knights might uncover something new. Let’s dive in!
01 // The Secret Code
Let’s start with some hidden entertainment right on GOG website. And we’re not talking about over 10,000 games that are on there, but something more hidden. There are two classic games hidden on GOG that you can play right on our website! While in your library, try entering the famous Konami code (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A) to unlock a secret screen. From there, you can choose to play either Snake or Pong! Give it a try!
02 // Internal Christmas charity fundraisers
Every year, we hold a Christmas charity fundraiser where GOG and CDPR employees offer products and services for other employees to bid on, with all proceeds going to charity. Some of the unique items auctioned off in the past include TTRPG sessions, a handmade painting of a bunch of pierogi, a bad custom rap song, K-Pop dance lessons, a crocheted jumping spider, and many more! Of course all the money goes to the CDPR charity channel. And you might think that a bunch of pierogi or a custom candle might not sell for much, but the heat of bidding is worthy of a texan auctioneer and the heat of bidding can get quite competitive. Just look at previous years results.
03 // Peculiar server rooms
Believe it or not, we used to store some of our servers in a room originally meant to be a janitor’s closet—right next to the WC. The servers were neatly arranged on whatever racks we could find, except, of course, the ones actually designed for servers.
One fateful day, a toilet broke, and we had to build DIY dams to keep the water from flooding the servers. Needless to say, this was a VERY long time ago, and we’d never dare to risk something like that again! Now the only question remaining is who did it first – us or Linus? ????
04 // GOG-chan debuted more than 6 years ago
In June 2018, during a JRPG craze, our graphic designer, known as KosmicznaPluskwa, created the design for our beloved unofficial mascot, GOG-chan!
She quickly captured the hearts of both our employees and the community, making appearances in many sales and events since then, with countless creative iterations. We even have custom GOG-chan emojis that we use on our company chat!
05 // A years-long effort to bring back the classics
Bringing classic titles back to life is never an easy task. More often than not, it’s a rocky road that requires tremendous effort. Nonetheless, we believe preserving gaming legacy is always worth the fight.
Our longest endeavor to date? The original Resident Evil Trilogy, which we successfully brought back to digital distribution this year! This monumental project took multiple years to complete.
06 // Special names for our meeting rooms
Every GOG employee is a gamer, so we love to gamify our day-to-day work. Each meeting room in our office is named after a game-related place, so throughout the day, we find ourselves visiting places like Khorinis, Tristram, Night City, Erathia, and more! It makes each meeting feel a bit like an adventure. And yes, every meeting in Tristram should start with “Stay awhile and listen” but that is a work in progress. Bonus fact – we also have a meeting room called Roach and to be fair – it’s as comfortable as riding a horse. Fortunately, Roach meeting room won’t suddenly appear on a roof of a building. Or will it?
07 // Halloween party costumes
Staying on the topic of gamifying, each year we hold a Halloween party, where it is strongly recommended to dress up. And what do you know, most employees are of course choosing to cosplay as video game characters! So costumes are super detailed, some on more of a… budget side, but all of them bring lots of fun to the party. Each year the best costume wins a prize!
08 // Piran of the Jungle
Some of our GOG employees have some impressive gaming achievements – like our Stream Team Coordinator, Piran, who holds 10th place in the world for Jill of the Jungle speedruns! Creating awesome streams and expertly climbing vines are just a fraction of her many talents. Maybe it’s time for Piran to livestream a speedrun on our stream?
09 // Two major milestones of 2024
GOG is not just the games, but it’s a community! And the GOG community has spoken! This year, we’ve reached 3 million fulfilled votes on our Community Wishlist, with the total currently standing at 3,094,630. What’s more, we’ve also surpassed 10,000 titles available in our store.
None of this would be possible without your support. Thank you so much!
10 // All kinds of people, one love for games
Now for a lightning round about the people in GOG. Let’s go!
There’s a 29-year age gap between the oldest and youngest employee, a 44 cm (~17 inch) difference between the shortest and tallest, and a 113,487 hair difference between the baldest and the hairiest head at GOG (yes, we counted, don’t ask). Over 16 years, we’ve had employees from over 30 countries. Between our desks, the cantina, the meetings, occasional smoke break and other types of transportation in the GOG office, the average amount of steps done just by being in the office is 4720, and that’s just counting those using a smartwatch to give us data. Despite that, the most impressive fact is that thanks to english being the main language spoken in the office, we’re very well versed in switching between languages even mid-sentence, without a stutter. It’s truly an site to behold seeing a few people talking in polish, and then suddenly when someone just walks close, it’s instantly back to english so the other person can be included in the conversation.
As you can see, there is a lot that differentiates all GOG employees, but we don’t see it as a hindrance, but strength. Those differences make coming to work every day more interesting and gives us all an additional boost of motivation to fight for game preservation, secure drm-free titles and give you the best experience as we can.
And there you have it – 10 fun (we hope) facts about our company! Whether you’re a newcomer or one of the long-time members of our community, thank you so much for your support. We hope you have a wonderful holiday season!
