Games download site GOG.com shut down last night without warning.

The service, which launched in 2008 to make old PC games available in DRM-free form, "cannot remain in its current form", its founders said last night following the sudden, unexpected closure.

GOG - short for Good Old Games - leaves many customers with games they have paid for but yet to download. However, the founders pledged that they will re-enable downloads "this week".

And the service may yet be revived, albeit in a different from.

"This doesn't mean the idea behind GOG.com is gone forever," the founders said. Indeed, the placeholder site already sports a new logo.

The founders referred to "new challenges", one of which is undoubtedly their aversion to DRM, an approach that proved difficult to sell to the major games publishers.

Winning the rights to sell old titles - many of which were originally released by companies now long dead - also proved a burden. ®

Readers keen to learn more about GOG.com should check out Bit-Tech.net's history of the company, here.