Making Games Live Forever: GOG's Preservation Push Grows
GAME MODE Staff·Jun 22, 2026· 4m read
GOG's Preservation Program crossed 248 guaranteed-to-run classics in early 2026, adding the original Hitman and leaning into game preservation as delisting fears spread.
A promise to keep classics playable
While much of the industry wrestles with always-online shutdowns and delisted titles, GOG has doubled down on the opposite. The storefront's Preservation Program, which guarantees long-term technical support and DRM-free access on modern hardware, grew to 248 games in a February 20, 2026 wave that added 16 titles, including the original Hitman.
The pitch is simple and increasingly rare: buy a game in the program, and GOG commits to keeping it running on current systems, without the DRM that can render purchases unplayable when servers or storefronts go dark.
Building the library
The 2026 additions have come steadily throughout the year:
- Four Final Fantasy games joined in January.
- The February wave brought the total to 248, headlined by the original Hitman.
- Later batches added Polish classics in May and a further 26-game group.
The running total has continued to climb since, so the current figure is higher than 248 and worth confirming before quoting.
Why it resonates now
The timing could hardly be better. Preservation has become one of 2026's defining industry debates, energized by the Stop Killing Games movement and a wave of always-online titles being switched off. Against that backdrop, GOG's DRM-free, guaranteed-support model reads as a direct answer to players who fear that the games they buy are really just revocable licenses.
For consumers, the program is a genuine value-add rather than marketing gloss. A game in the Preservation Program is one you can reasonably expect to install and play years from now, patched to work on modern Windows, without hunting for community fixes. It also positions GOG as the storefront leaning hardest into ownership at a moment when that idea feels under threat.
The broader hope is that GOG's stance pressures the rest of the industry to take preservation seriously, whether through DRM-free options, offline modes, or clearer commitments about what happens when servers shut down. For now, it remains one of the few places where buying a classic comes with a promise attached.
