Submitted by Zephyr28572 t3_11d9uki in gaming
I buy a game through steam. Why do I have to download and install a launcher to play the game I bought from steam. I downloaded all the game files from steam, I should be able to play it through steam. Customers should be able to choose which launcher they want to use, not be forced into using a rubbish extra launcher that never works properly. I'm looking at you EA.
Done forget analytics. Sometimes it's worth far more than any simpler banner ad.
Interesting yeah thats smart. You mean like user data age location etc? So they know who to target with ads
Yeah. The data they can pull from a person using their own launcher is probably one of theain reasons they force a launcher. Well that and control. Lol
But yeah there's a lot of worth in knowing your demographic and gaming habits. It may even pull data while it's just sitting on the background not being used depending on your countries privacy laws.
It's why companies like Facebook and Google fight tooth and nail to protect their data collection abilities.
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>They know you'll play the game either way.
I don't know about other people, but I know I'm refunding immediately if I have to use an awful launcher like Origin.
To be honest, I haven't been able to play any EA games for months, because their damn launcher doesn't work. Even straight after a fresh install
I can’t play anything on the xbox pc app since they moved off of the Microsoft store. Every game crashes at launch and I’m out of ideas. No game pass for me
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I'd take in main menu ads over the mandatory launchers any day.
Less incasive and i dont cares if half of my screen on the main menu is just scolling adds for other games
"Do you have a OurGameSucks account? No? Sign up!" FUCK. OFF
Exactly. Which is why I don't have Steam on my computer and pirate all the games I want to play. Not having your forced drm third party launcher on my computer sorry.
It is ridiculous indeed. With just my steam games, I now have a launcher for Ubisoft, EA, Rockstar and even still Origin (or again actually), because EA reverted back to Origin (PC only) for Sims 3 players, because the EA launcher will not start the game with (store) dlc.
I miss the times where you just bought a game, installed it, perhaps download some extra updates for the game itself and you were actually ready to play.
And man, that EA launcher! 😭
Those launchers are litterally why i just refuse to buy certain games
I get that. And I also refuse to buy new games that need a launcher.
However, I already bought games that need this and I just really want to play them as I paid for them. So for now, I will just have to accept it. Doesn't make it less annoying though.
But I do refrain from buying new games that need launchers. Who knows, if enough of us do this, they might actually stop this nonsense.
The problem is that some launchers get added AFTER you purchase the games.
I'm looking at you, Fall Guys.
Well to be fair steam launches those for you. Half the time you won't even know they're running
This sucks especially hard on Steam deck because it's a piece of proprietary steam hardware and half of all launchers out there don't just work on download. So games like Jedi Fallen Order that were one of the games heavily used in the marketing of the Steam Deck now aren't compatible out of the box anymore due to EA Play.
What do you mean they don't just work? I agree they're annoying, but I've never had them not work. Or is this a unique situation with the Steam Deck?
The steam deck is linux. A lot of those launchers check for cheat stuff and os version to make sure you're not cheating. Because it's a windows program running on linux some of the launchers freak out and won't let the game run. Other launchers aren't compatible with Proton (the compatibility layer the steam deck uses) for one reason or another. Like the rockstar launcher for the first few months just couldn't be installed but eventually a workaround was found. If you literally just install windows everything is fine and runs like normal, but not in the native steam os.
But how are they going to push more ads on you, and make more money off you if they can not do that /s
Also why I don't buy things from ubisoft anymore I just can't be assed for another launcher,heck I installed epic years ago for free games but do you know how often I touched it?never and the 40 or so games rot there
No need to install Epic client.
I just stay logged into the Epic website and claim the games from there using browser on pc or phone. It's faster.
I have sent up an alarm to beep me when the next free one rolls around.
I know I'll never play 99% of the free games so I mindlessly claim one that looks vaguely interesting and CBA to download the client.
Just do it before christmas when they drop every day one and in that case I also grab pretty much every game playing them is another Story though
Yea that's a good time to keep tabs on them. Sometimes they drop a surprise.
Not long after I bought GTA5 on Steam; Epic gave it away for nothing with in-game GTA$1,000,000. I was like "Oh ffs"
Then why are you getting the free games? Seems stupid if you're not gonna play them
I just take them really around christmas,why?well it's free so I might hope to play them at some point,probably won't happen but I don't need to feel bad to pick up free stuff
It's not that it's just the hoarding for the sake of hoarding. Seems like a waste of time
Well 3 minutes aren't really a big deal to be honest,but yeah hoarding fits that pretty well as explanation
This was my only problem with Marvel Midnight Suns. Not only was the 2K launcher annoying as hell, but it severely impacted the performance of the game.
If you've got it, do yourself a favor, disable the launcher. It's easy to find guides for doing so, and it'll improve the game considerably.
But for the life of me I can't see how this passed QA, when the problem isn't even the game itself.
Thank you for this advice. Went home and found a walk through on how to disable the launcher and the game is so much smoother now.
I preferred when games didn't need any launcher or had their own self-contained game launcher from the disc.
Agreed. Then the steam fanbois ruined it by thinking a drm filled forced third party game launcher was fine.
HOT TAKE ALERT!
Some of these launchers are poorly made as well. Like, they are buggy, break constantly, and take up way too many resources ie CPU/RAM. I'm looking at you, Ubisoft/EA.
Gog galexy or playnite will fix that right up for you, able to combine your games and launchers into one. Doesnt mean you wont have to still download the other launchers but you will get to ignore them alot more.
Also origins, ubisoft and epic games. So tons of launchers. Also you need a seperate account for them and in ubisoft theres no achivments on steam. Which means you could essentialy buy it off the launchers itself. I did that mistake with almost all ubisoft games. I just could of cracked them or bought them off ubisoft.
Remember when PC gamers laughed at console people arguing over what was better, PlayStation or Xbox? They freak out when they have to download a free launcher
Console ftw. I dl a game and can play without having to worry about a launcher at all
Yeah its super annoying to buy it on one platform then requiring to play it on another launcher.
Even more annoying: I bought Deadspace 3 on origin but I tried getting the dlc on steam because its cheaper, but steam refuses to give me a code for the dlc because I dont own the game yet if I bought thr base game on steam it would send me to origin anyways
This is so annoying when I play siege
Yea that just means I have something I don't have to pay. I just hate when it's a huge file. Just got rid of a couple of games for warzone 2.0 and they want my info. Quests who just wasted all that time and data. Delete. I guess I'm just retro but I think I enjoyed wasting quArters in machines with friends or salty defeated foes than these digital shoe tacks tracking data.
I hate game launchers as a whole. Just put the icon on my desktop and let me play. Stop making me open steam.
Always how MMORPGs have been, Steam is just a client to get the core files, the launcher is to update them as MMOs are constantly being updated and files modified. They would have to use another step in the process to get those constant updates to Steam and that creates more of a problem for them and causes more variables in the process to screw things up. They handle it directly from the source, no BS.
There still is a huge difference between simple launchers like gaijin, wargaming and lol (last time I played it like 6 years ago) use them, or whole new ad-platforms that try to shove their trash down your throat via shops and bloat up you RAM.
This is exactly how I feel about steam. I bought a physical copy of a game, I shouldnt be forced to use steam to play it. It's also why I dont buy games from steam unless it is my only choice. I hate that launcher full of features I have no use for.
I wouldn't even mind the extra launcher it's having to create another account and password with every launcher that really pisses me off.
Get used to it, or don't buy those games...
I've used pretty much all the major launchers except for Epic for over a decade and never had a major issue with any of them.
Although, with a few exceptions, I tend to buy games from their proprietary clients more often than not anyways rather than force myself to use Steam as a middle man when it isn't necessary...
My understanding is that they can negotiate that Steam take a lower cut of sales if they don't make use of Steam's DRM or other platform features.
Steam is convenient but monopolies aren't good either. In a perfect world all the platforms would provide proper API's so the community could make nicely integrated open source launchers that consolidate all of our games like GOG Galaxy tried to be. Given how finicky GOG is, that unfortunately seems to not be a world we're in yet or maybe ever will be.
I've got 3 different launchers just for Minecraft LOL
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That's why I don't play a single game from ubisoft
Why? Because gamers won't fight back against this crap.
Yeah, get all pissy because I called you out, but prove me wrong.
Want them to change this bullshit? Perhaps stop buying the games forcing a new launcher on you.
How many times do I have to post it? Hit THEIR wallet, not empty yours.
You know what sucks more? Monopolies.
Such a tiny inconvenience which causes steam to at least have some small amount of competition
It's horrible having to wait an extra 30 sec to play my games! Do these devs think we're just made of time or something?
Not sure if sarcasm or not. If not, it's not about the time. It's about being forced to use a crap launcher against your will when you've paid for the game of the launcher of your choice
Steam lists on the store page whether a game requires a third party launcher; don't buy games with additional launchers if you don't want to use them.
Then you can't play that game
Sometimes you have to make a choice and stand up for what's right!
Then don't, if this matters so much to you.
At what point did anyone put a gun to your head making this against your will?
You had every opportunity to refund the game on steam and speak with your wallet.
But you didnt, did you?
Not to be a dick but said launcher of your choice is still used and it says clear as day that you'll need another launcher on top of it.
Laughs in console
crackpotJeffrey t1_ja7fz3i wrote
Because they want to be able to advertise all their products to you, and take a better cut from those than they get through steam.
They know you'll play the game either way.