Zoom Platform (DRM-free alternative to GOG)

[Bad Sector]

So i heard about this site called Zoom Platform some time ago, apparently made by some people who worked on Sony, 3D Realms, etc or something and i decided to try it out a bit as an alternative to GOG since the more places to buy DRM-free games the better.

In general the site is... well, working, kinda, sorta. It seems to be a thing with those DRM-free sites (GOG, FireFlower, this one) to have bad sites (itch.io is somewhat of an exception in that at least it is functional, though with all the jams and non-game stuff it isn't exactly the same as the others).

They give out two free games (perhaps more but i only noticed two), Shadow Warrior and Killing Time. The latter is some FPS that i heard of (...and apparently bought on GOG) but never played. I also bought a few games: Alien Trilogy (which is only available there), El Matador, Gun Metal and CT Special Forces something something (some 3rd person shooter that someone made a positive comment somewhere and was only $3 so why not). I had El Matador and Gun Metal on Steam already but i thought it'd be nice to buy DRM-free versions.

They have some games that you can't get elsewhere (like Alien Trilogy) or with some additional extras (i think Alien vs Predator has some extra content). Also apparently they're the only place to buy early Duke Nukem stuff (including the addons) because of some contract they had before the IP was sold to Gearbox. According to some people from the GOG forums (sadly they do not have their own forums yet though they do have a Discord server where they hang out) some versions of old games in Zoom are more stable, though for newer games you may actually get an older version (e.g. someone mentioned that Postal 2 is an older version).

All games come with custom installers like GOG and a bunch of additional extras, like videos, maps, etc. I also noticed that their manuals are the original full scanned manuals whereas GOG does some OCR/conversion. This does make the manuals larger and blurrier though so it is up to personal preference - personally i prefer the original stuff.

Sadly their site seems to be broken with Firefox right now (or at least Firefox Developer Edition that i am using) and you can't complete purchases. I reported it to them via their Discord channel with a repro and screenshots and they said they'll check it out and fix it (also their web dev also uses Firefox but i guess he has a different version or it might be related to the Developer Edition). I used Edge to complete the purchase and that worked.

In general their site needs work and the game pages are rather barebones - basically if you do not already know about a game the site wont help much. This is apparently an improved version over the one they had until recently and they'll add more stuff so i guess it'll improve.

So anyway, might be interesting to check it out.

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

Interesting! The more widespread the non-DRM distribution model becomes, the better. Obviously big publishers will never go for it with their new releases, but there's a chance these games end up a non-DRM catalogue a few years later.

 

[Azdul]

ZOOM Platform Media is an exciting new venture, whose sole purpose, is to create original video game centric trans-media content.

Exciting! The executive chairman of the company is Bernie Stolar. I expect success story that will overshadow even Phil Harrison's Stadia.

 

[Bad Sector]

Exciting! The executive chairman of the company is Bernie Stolar. I expect success story that will overshadow even Phil Harrison's Stadia.

I don't know either of them :-P. From a quick Google i guess he's the one pouring money over the site? The site seems to be around since 2014 so it most likely already surpassed the expected lifespan of Stadia :-P (not to mention that DRM-free games > locked down game streaming).

 

[JarlFrank]

Interesting! The more widespread the non-DRM distribution model becomes, the better. Obviously big publishers will never go for it with their new releases, but there's a chance these games end up a non-DRM catalogue a few years later.

Also, considering GoG's recent curation issues (rejecting several decent niche games due to not having enough mass appeal), it's good to have more alternatives for small niche indies.

 

[Azdul]

DRM-free is not a nice thing to have for classic games - it's a requirement, after GOG (and abadonware sites) set a precedent. And let's be honest - most of smaller stores wouldn't be able to implement DRM even if they tried.

 

[LESS T_T]

Looks like they've been making their own games too, featuring some Hollywood actors with the intention of multimedia franchises.

Some high-fidelity stealth action game called Shadow Stalkers, featuring Bruce Dern and Rip Torn (rip), co-developed by 3D Realms, and a reboot of MegaRace, also featuring actors and comedians. Former supposedly was to be released in 2018, published by Sony. Seeing how 3D Realms is now busy with retro shooters and there's practically no news about both games in recent months, it seems to fell apart, and re-purposed as a real-time tactics game. (Tactical game, turn-based or real-time, is new third-person shooter, you know?)



I would worry about sustainability of the platform to be honest. Seems they did decent jobs acquiring rights to and remastering some old games, but I wouldn't be surprised those games end up into GOG and Steam. (Some, the games they did as contract work, did.)

 

[samuraigaiden]

They also give away Death Rally.

 

[Bony Hands]

This could be worth keeping an eye on. I already have most of the games I would have bought on there, but they'll add more games in the future.

 

[Bad Sector]

I would worry about sustainability of the platform to be honest. Seems they did decent jobs acquiring rights to and remastering some old games, but I wouldn't be surprised those games end up into GOG and Steam. (Some, the games they did as contract work, did.)

Yeah i wonder about their long term prospects, though from what i can tell they are a very small team so they do not have that many expenses. But the nice thing about being DRM-free is that you do not have to care about the store you bought the game from stays around. I have a bunch of DRM-free games from stores that are now closed - or the games are just not available anymore (e.g. the aforementioned 3D Realms stuff, i have the "3DRealms Collection" which was sold at some point directly by 3D Realms and contains almost all of their older games in a single executable).

 

[Outlander]

I had El Matador and Gun Metal on Steam already but i thought it'd be nice to buy DRM-free versions.

Gun Metal on Steam has no DRM, as in, you can back up the files after downloading and launch the game without Steam. I suppose El Matador too.

 

[Bad Sector]

Gun Metal on Steam has no DRM, as in, you can back up the files after downloading and launch the game without Steam. I suppose El Matador too.

Oops, you are right, i didn't check and it turns out both are already DRM-free on Steam.

Oh well, i guess i paid ~6 euros for an installer :-P. Well, it isn't the first time i bought a game i already had on Steam in a fully DRM-free platform (GOG) so it doesn't bother me much (though truth be told, i probably wouldn't bought those games if i already knew they didn't have any DRM).

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

Wow, they're giving away Killing Time. That's nice. If you don't know, its a FPS set after a speakeasy on an island went bad. The hostess of the party had an Egyptian artifact that cursed the lot of them. The player is an Indiana Jones type to take the artifact and put it back where it belongs. Its a nice story for the time, told in FMV. Its not bad, just a warning. Its got a very metroidvania-y vibe to it, with open-ended levels that aren't just Hexen switch hunts like the other poor examples of the time. It does have an issue where there's a lot of a certain kind of ammo in one location, which is troublesome when it comes down to the wine cellar, as wine molotov cocktails are the grenade weapon of the game.

 

[taxalot]

Wow, they're giving away Killing Time. That's nice. If you don't know, its a FPS set after a speakeasy on an island went bad. The hostess of the party had an Egyptian artifact that cursed the lot of them. The player is an Indiana Jones type to take the artifact and put it back where it belongs. Its a nice story for the time, told in FMV. Its not bad, just a warning. Its got a very metroidvania-y vibe to it, with open-ended levels that aren't just Hexen switch hunts like the other poor examples of the time. It does have an issue where there's a lot of a certain kind of ammo in one location, which is troublesome when it comes down to the wine cellar, as wine molotov cocktails are the grenade weapon of the game.

I played the demo, but somehow I still remember that song.

 

[Bad Sector]

They released some hovercraft/FPS hybrid i never heard of before, Zone Raiders. Apparently they also handled the conversion or whatever.



It looked nice (and i love how "the future" looked in 90s sci-fi games :-P) so got it, it is only $3 so at that price it wouldn't be much of a loss if i disliked it. However even though i only played it for a little bit, it looks like a nice shooter so it looks worth it. They also have some box scans as a bonus which was neat.

 

[samuraigaiden]

That's a very shitty trailer.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

I've had that for years on disc and I've never played it. Looking at the trailer they have for it, that reminds me a bit of Streets of SimCity, except not as janky.

 

[Bad Sector]

If you made an account you might have a few extra games for free. Actually you might still get them if you make an account until their contract expires:

Dear All,

Ziggurat Interactive has demanded that we take Killing Time as well as all Majesco titles down and strongly requested we pay all royalties due. Despite the fact that we had legal and valid contracts. As many of you already know, we have fought this battle for sometime. Beginning with converting Killing Time (July 22nd 2015), a feat deemed impossible by GOG, and subsequently having the code we created misappropriated (March 2016). It's amazing how that title has jumped from Tommo to Retroism to Ziggurat... Now, while we were given the option to overprice our titles and keep royalties...We said NO. It's not about the money. It's about our users. So, as a parting gift, please find the following titles added to your account as part of our contract expiration promotion: A Boy and His Blob, Advent Rising, BloodRayne, BloodRayne 2, BloodRayne: Betrayal and Killing Time

Enjoy

It is a shame considering that so far Zoom Platform seems to be the best DRM-free alternative to GOG, especially with GOG's recent blunders in mind.

 

[A horse of course]

If you made an account you might have a few extra games for free. Actually you might still get them if you make an account until their contract expires:

Dear All,

Ziggurat Interactive has demanded that we take Killing Time as well as all Majesco titles down and strongly requested we pay all royalties due. Despite the fact that we had legal and valid contracts. As many of you already know, we have fought this battle for sometime. Beginning with converting Killing Time (July 22nd 2015), a feat deemed impossible by GOG, and subsequently having the code we created misappropriated (March 2016). It's amazing how that title has jumped from Tommo to Retroism to Ziggurat... Now, while we were given the option to overprice our titles and keep royalties...We said NO. It's not about the money. It's about our users. So, as a parting gift, please find the following titles added to your account as part of our contract expiration promotion: A Boy and His Blob, Advent Rising, BloodRayne, BloodRayne 2, BloodRayne: Betrayal and Killing Time

Enjoy

It is a shame considering that so far Zoom Platform seems to be the best DRM-free alternative to GOG, especially with GOG's recent blunders in mind.

That's nice of them. I vaguely recall the legal troubles with Killing Time, hope it doesn't completely fuck them. It's also a reminder of how even official DRM-free releases are not always going to be around.

 

[Bad Sector]

That's nice of them. I vaguely recall the legal troubles with Killing Time, hope it doesn't completely fuck them. It's also a reminder of how even official DRM-free releases are not always going to be around.

Which is why them be DRM-free is an important aspect, IMO.

 

[udm]

Holy shit, they actually have AVP Gold! AVP Classic 2000 fucked up the xenomorph's ability to climb stairs.

 

[ferratilis]

I bought Duke Nukem with expansions on Zoom, the only place that has not yet been greased by Randy Bitchford (don't know how they managed, but I'm glad they did.) Thanks Bad Sector

 

[Bad Sector]

don't know how they managed, but I'm glad they did

IIRC they had an old contract from before the IP was completely transferred to Gearbox that gave them perpetual selling rights. Scott Miller (Apogee/3D Realms' cofounder) used to be involved with Zoom Platform several years ago, though he isn't anymore. But most likely the contract was made around that time.

They have confirmed the contract's validity with Gearbox which is why they have Gearbox as publisher in the Duke Nukem games' titles.

 

[Belegarsson]

Good grief these mofos have GRID 2008 and OG AvP? Did they deal with the devil or something? If that's the case, can I have Scarface: The World Is Yours?

also lmao this tiny niche site has wishlist already while it took Epic a good year to implement it.

 

[Narushima]

Electronic Arts being as classy as ever.
It's also funny to see how they laying into GOG, when you're literally not even allowed to talk about Zoom Platform on GOG's forums.

As you are likely already aware, Bernie Stolar, our former Chairman, passed away on June 22nd, it became public knowledge on June 25th. EA management sent me a condolences message at Midnight on July 6th...followed 9 hours later by a contract termination notice. The only possible reason being Bernie's death was a material change in the Company and, therefore, acceptable cause. This was not one of our typical ZOOM Platform contracts, but a slightly customized Codemasters agreement.

I immediately went on a mission and spoke with founding members of Electronic Arts as well as former Codemasters executives. All of us jointly reached out to EA CEO, Andrew Wilson, who promised he "would look into this". Silence followed until the afternoon of July 25th when I received an email re-affirming their intent to terminate our contract, emphasizing this is strictly a "business decision”…

The termination has been delayed. However, we’ll need all the help we can get to reverse it. While EA seems to believe that their partnership with GOG makes us redundant, we beg to differ. Several Codemasters titles launched here first. For example, the Overlord series.

Further, GOG deemed the game, Mega-Lo-Mania, released today…impossible. Despite that, the veteran Codemasters management had enough faith in ZOOM Platform to contractually license it. We have now proven them correct.

No matter how many times we prove GOG wrong though…certain publishers just don’t seem to get it.

It's also worth noting that we had prepared a Codemasters Cartoon Collection with all sorts of great titles that was similarly terminated. The launcher and manual were custom made and everything was finished. Please see the attached sample artwork.

Here is a list of the games that would have been included:

Captain Dynamo (1992)

CJ In The USA (1991)

CJ’s Elephant Antics (1992)

Dizzy: The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure (1987)

Fast Food Dizzy (1989)

Dizzy’s Kwik Snax (1989)

Fantasy World Dizzy (1989)

Magicland Dizzy (1990)

Bubble Dizzy (1990)

Dizzy: The Prince of the Yolkfolk (1991)

Fantastic Dizzy (1991)

Seymour Goes To Hollywood (1991)

Steg The Slug (1992)

We are going to hold out as long as we can and do our best to convince them otherwise. However, getting the story out there is paramount. So, please share far and wide.

We sincerely hope Electronic Arts re-evaluates our partnership. Thank you for your time and assistance.

https://www.zoom-platform.com/news (Sep 1, 2022)