We want to clear up a few misunderstandings.
First, we are not charging money for access to your GOG games. That implies you have no other way to use them, which simply isn’t true—there are other tools available, and we encourage users to support those projects too, since they also require time, effort, and funding to maintain.
Junk Store was designed to be extensible. Our dev made it open to community contributions from day one—especially for those with Python skills—so that development could be shared. If someone in the community built and released a GOG extension as open source, we would absolutely welcome that. The reason we charge for our GOG extension is simple: our tiny team is doing all the work, and community demand keeps growing. Our developer has already put over 1,000 hours into the open source core and another 400 into the GOG extension—solo. The new closed-source version has required nearly 4,500 hours, including building our own Decky alternative to operate independently. This scale of effort simply isn’t sustainable without support.
Also, no final pricing has been announced—so any claims about being “forced” to pay are speculative and incorrect. The existing open source plugin and GOG extension will remain available. No one is being locked out. Yes, the upcoming version offers added features, but users aren’t being forced to upgrade. We’re committed to transparency, choice, and sustainability.
There’s a widespread misconception in open source that developers’ time is free. That idea is both unfair and damaging. Quality software takes work, and that work deserves respect.
We’re committed to choice, transparency, and fairness. No tricks, no lock-ins—just a small team trying to build something awesome, and asking to be supported for the work we do. That’s not sketchy. That’s just honest.
We get that not everyone will agree with every decision, but we’re aiming for a balance between sustainability and fairness. The goal isn’t to nickel-and-dime—it’s to make sure we can keep building without burning out.
Just to clarify: the GOG extension is a one-off purchase—$6 through Ko-fi or Patreon shop (and has been for a while). If you want it for $5, you can sub and cancel right away (which you have always been able to do), though that adds a bit of manual work for us when updates roll out. Recurring support is totally optional and only for those who choose to subscribe, like they do with plenty of other open source projects.
We’re Kiwis, so this might sound a bit blunt—but honestly, the software should speak for itself. If it doesn’t work for someone, they shouldn’t use it. We’re not into pushing it or spinning hype. We’ve never peddled it or tried to sell people on it. The folks who do use it? They stick around because it does what it’s supposed to, and fills a real need. That’s it.