GOG Galaxy Finally Comes to Linux in 2027 With a Rebuilt Launcher for Steam Deck
By CriticalPixel ·
GOG spent eighteen years selling DRM-free PC games and roughly a decade being the store Linux players could not run properly. That ends in 2027. At its first ever GOG Showcase, timed to the company's 18th anniversary, GOG confirmed that GOG Galaxy is getting a native Linux client, and that the Windows and Mac versions are being rebuilt at the same time. The storefront has never shipped an official Linux client, which is why Deck owners have been stuck with community tools for years. For anyone who has been juggling Heroic Games Launcher on a Steam Deck just to install a game they already own, this is the announcement that matters more than any storefront sale. The store did not put a month on it, and there is no beta date yet, but the direction is finally official.
The new Galaxy is not a Linux patch bolted onto the old client. GOG describes it as a next generation launcher, faster to open, with a modern interface and cleaner control over how your library is displayed and filtered. The showcase showed new views for recently played and recently added games, plus better filtering across everything you own. Daily Gadget reports that GOG is targeting 2027 with no month announced, that the Windows and macOS clients are being reworked alongside the Linux build, and that beta registration is already open on the anniversary page. GOG has not said when that beta actually starts, which is the detail everyone should keep in mind before clearing space on a microSD card. A waitlist opening is not the same thing as a client to install.
The Linux ask is not new. Daily Gadget notes that a native Galaxy client pulled more than 44,000 votes on GOG's community wishlist, that GOG hired an engineer for the Linux build in January 2026, and that the company confirmed work was underway to GamingOnLinux in July. Smartportal covered the same showcase and frames the release as the next generation of the launcher rather than a port, with full customization and a modern look. Put that next to Valve's Steam Machine push and Epic's own Linux work, and 2027 starts to look like the year the big PC storefronts stop treating Linux as a hobby. GOG is late to that party, but late is better than another year of Wine tweaks and forum threads about proton flags.
What actually changes for a Steam Deck owner is the unglamorous stuff. A native client means GOG supported installs, updates, cloud saves and achievements instead of whatever a third party launcher can reverse engineer this month. Cloud saves and achievements are the difference between a game you own and a game you can actually move between machines without copying folders by hand. The GOG Galaxy page makes the pitch clearly: one library that pulls in games from other stores, one friends list, and a launcher that installs and starts anything you own. GOG also repeated that Galaxy stays entirely optional and that offline installers are unchanged, which is the promise that keeps people buying there in the first place. If the rebuilt client ships without that, the whole thing is noise.
What players are saying
Reaction is still limited because there is nothing to download, but the tone is mostly positive. Players who already use Galaxy point at features like one click version rollback and library tidiness, and the Linux crowd is treating the news as a long overdue fix rather than a favor. The Linux faithful have asked for this since the Steam Deck launched, and that wishlist number shows how long the line was. Gaming on Steam summed up the practical reality: the new Galaxy is planned for 2027, the beta waitlist is open, and there is no Linux build available today. That caveat matters. A waitlist is not a client, and GOG has burned goodwill before by announcing things it shipped years later. Nobody should uninstall Heroic this month.
The CriticalPixel take
Here is the part GOG will not say out loud. A Linux client is cheap goodwill, but the real test is whether the rebuilt Galaxy fixes the store's bigger problem, which is that most people only open it when a game is on sale or when they want an old classic that Steam will not sell them. GOG's catalog leans on old games, and old games are exactly what people want to play offline on a handheld. A faster launcher with better filters does not solve discovery, and 2027 is a long way from the November 2026 showcase. Still, the ownership angle is worth defending. Offline installers and an optional launcher are a genuine difference from the competition, and putting that on Linux means Deck owners get the same deal as everyone else. That is a better use of engineering time than another social feed nobody asked for.
The bottom line
If you play on SteamOS, the plan for now is boring: keep your current workaround, sign up for the beta on GOG's anniversary page, and watch for a month and a date. If you play on Windows, the rebuilt client is the thing to judge, not the Linux headline, because a faster GOG Galaxy would help every user regardless of platform. GOG gets credit for finally committing, and it gets scrutiny for shipping in a vague 2027 window while competitors already have working Linux clients. The announcement is a promise. The client still has to arrive, and until it does, every Steam Deck owner reading this already knows the workaround by heart.
Sources
GOG.COM on X, GOG Galaxy Linux announcement
Daily Gadget, GOG Galaxy Linux 2027 and Steam Deck support