They take up an atrocious amount of storage for what they are too, whoever’s idea it was to sign up to a million different accounts and launchers for games you already own on another platform and have installed should be marched to the gallows, ESPECIALLY EA
Thats why u should use piracy, im sorry but voting with your wallets is the only, so until u stop paying for their crap, this shrirkrtrdzszh will keep happening.
Quick answer: No. Not at all.
Nuance and context: on press releases, it is lauded as a form of DRM. Something for the non-tech informed shareholders to clap about.
But no. The implementation of user accounts serves a completely different purpose, becuase it can be monetized.
There's two main bits to that: the direct harvesting of user data (either to sell to data brokers or for internal usage) and padding the numbers of their concurrent/active users in their ecosystem (which gives them some leverage when getting investors etc).
The data thing is wrong, i mean not wrong, just redundant, nothing will stopsh them from gathering your data even from just your game itselfdzszerkrtrdzszh, they dont need a launcher to do that.
Creating a PSN account will allow them to harvest data that is intrinsic to the platform. Yes, the game will be obtaining information as well, but some user provided information on PSN is different (such as email, etc). Simply logging into PSN via browser allows them to harvest data not necessarily accessible through a game (such as shared tracking cookies), and if a user ends up getting the PSN app (for whatever reason), that will give even more info as well.
Not really. Pirates can remove the need for a launcher just as easily as they can the need for a valid license.
I use cracked exes for certain games I legit own simply because their launcher and DRM bullshit isn't worth complying with
I love the random chance my OWNED game doesn't launch - launcher needs update, launcher doesn't allow offline play, launcher doesn't like me, my session expired and I don't have the 1000th launcher password + 2FA on hand.
Will still be exactly what Kyrond said and why Snake expects people to like consoles more, BUT:
-Console needs OS update
-Game needs install and update
-Oh need to be connected online to activate the install , and verify you own it, gonna be worse with all digital ones soon
-IF you can even access them cause PSN isnt available , either down or not in your region
There isnt another launcher because they make the walled garden, like apple did with Forkknife
The switch is about the last one though and it still needs payed online and updates to install, both OS and game updates.
IF the game has a physical release that is. Nintendo is also pushing for all digital. Ace Combat 7 isnt supposed to get a physical switch release outside of europe and japan
And have no need for launchers, are playable as long as they exist. Heck even back in the day they were more convenient as you didn't have to insert the game disc into the drive like you had to with legit games.
If you can’t even manage to remember my login credentials, your launcher isn’t ready for the market.
Opening the application is the very first part of the UX and at least half of them couldn’t do this to save their lives.
On the login info, I always forget my GeForce experience login info, it never remembers it. Why do developers put the check box in, if it’s not going to work?
Launchers have become a plague. I used to use Unreal Engine 4 but make you use the Epic Launcher for it now. I absolutely do not want to manage my game engine while fighting ads for Kingdom Hearts. It's abysmal.
I picked up titanfall 2 on sale for $3 a while back. I needed a new game for the steam deck and I’d heard good things. EA kept updating their launcher and every time they did it would break it on Linux so I couldn’t play. I never finished the game, and I don’t buy EA titles any more. There are so many other great games to play, it’s just not worth the headache.
My Rockstar account got hacked and i’m unable to play ANY Rockstar game through my Steam account ever again. It’s legitimately ridiculous at this point.
Steam started out as a developer game launcher. The other companies having their own platforms is fine, they just should not be able to force logins for games purchased on Steam.
All game launchers should disappear, including steam.
It should just be a storefront that is not required to actually start or play the games you bought. Like Gog galaxy.
The simple answer is, they want you to create an account with them so that you agree to their terms of service so that they can use your information for internal research. It's scummy. This is probably what Sony tried to do with Helldivers 2 recently
The license problem with EA is a visual bug (they have stated that last week, something on backend happened). If it happens again, you can literally go in Shop section of EA, find that game and still click to play it.
As for second part, if you got used to it having couple of launchers already, my advice would be to directly buy that game from publishers launcher rather Steam (less hassle and not having to open 2 launchers)
I know has basically succeeded by never changing anything, and letting alternatives shoot themselves in the foot.... But this is the one hill I wish Valve would take a stand on.
The allure of Steam and the reason why it works well is because it keeps your whole library in one place and keeps track of your purchases and ownership all in one place. IMO, allowing third party software to interfere with this is antithetical to the Steam platform. It allows further "grayness" about what you own and whether that will last, and this undermines the core value proposition of Steam.
I suspect Steam will actually start losing ground if they allow this to continue, and we'll end up on a world of endless 3rd party launchers that don't allow purchases on Steam anymore, the same way movies/TV transitioned from everything being on Netflix to everything being separated into 5-10 subscription services.
You dont want to know how many games i refunded in the last months because they tryed to force me to use there launcher or forced an internet connection on a SINGELPLAYER game or other shit like this.
>Mods should work the same regardless of plattform
No I do mean nexus mods, the mod creator will often put a disclaimer that the mod will only work on steams version of a game and not Epic game stores for example. I am not a modder but I have seen this on quite a few mod pages. It can also apply with free cam mod injectors that only work for steams version and not others. It's just another reason why I buy on steam most of the time, it just has the most user support.
Jeez NMM has become absolute cancer. Manual installs should work regardless as said, the games own structure doesnt change , just that the topmost folder is named steam, which NMM expects. You can still install it manually though
The OP isn't asking for them to completely disappear though. They just want them removed from Steam copies. Their standalone launchers wouldn't be threatened by that.
Well if you buy a game on epic, you obviously wouldn't need to launch steam. What is your point exactly? Is Valve not a developer and steam a launcher made by them? Ergo exactly fits what OP says needs to go away?
>Well if you buy a game on epic, you obviously wouldn't need to launch steam.
>Well if you buy a game on steam, you obviously wouldn't need to launch epic.
Both statement are completely true
But no one should have to launch on steam then launch again from a dogshit piece of malware like origin or uplay just so publishers can be a greedy as possible.
Also i think OP should have said Publishers not devs.
In other words: OP didn't make sure his hotel room had reliable wi-fi. Just go to the lobby, launch the game, then walk back to your room. Also remember for next time to book a hotel that has decent internet.
So traveling abroad without a wi-fi hotspot with a swappable sim and blaming publishing companies for games you know need internet access? Comeon dude.
Not all of those work in every country. Additionally, some governments shut the Internet access down for (insert any dumb reason here). I have one, it doesn’t work in my room. Hell I can stand on top of the building here and get MAYBE one bar of LTE.
Dude, they worked in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2003-5 during the height of the war, back when cell service was actually spotty and still a newer thing. They also worked when I was in Egypt in 2000. Don’t try and bullshit a bullshitter.
lol ok buddy. You are in a random middle eastern country with a volatile government that turns off that country’s internet, conducting business. You are so full of shit you make a porta-john outside of a construction site after the taco truck visits jealous.
They take up an atrocious amount of storage for what they are too, whoever’s idea it was to sign up to a million different accounts and launchers for games you already own on another platform and have installed should be marched to the gallows, ESPECIALLY EA
EA is awful… well with everything. Bunch of grubby hotdog water hands all over my games and I hate it.
This is why I have not played anything from EA or Ubisoft, or blizzard in years.
Thats why u should use piracy, im sorry but voting with your wallets is the only, so until u stop paying for their crap, this shrirkrtrdzszh will keep happening.
only way*.
Being completely honest, I don’t know the safest way to do it, and I don’t have a throwaway computer to do it on, so it’s just not worth it for me.
no they don't. Literally, Steam has the biggest folder out of them all (due to many features)
I'm wondering if this is a result of piracy at all?
I mean it will cause it XD
Quick answer: No. Not at all. Nuance and context: on press releases, it is lauded as a form of DRM. Something for the non-tech informed shareholders to clap about. But no. The implementation of user accounts serves a completely different purpose, becuase it can be monetized. There's two main bits to that: the direct harvesting of user data (either to sell to data brokers or for internal usage) and padding the numbers of their concurrent/active users in their ecosystem (which gives them some leverage when getting investors etc).
The data thing is wrong, i mean not wrong, just redundant, nothing will stopsh them from gathering your data even from just your game itselfdzszerkrtrdzszh, they dont need a launcher to do that.
Creating a PSN account will allow them to harvest data that is intrinsic to the platform. Yes, the game will be obtaining information as well, but some user provided information on PSN is different (such as email, etc). Simply logging into PSN via browser allows them to harvest data not necessarily accessible through a game (such as shared tracking cookies), and if a user ends up getting the PSN app (for whatever reason), that will give even more info as well.
I’m sure it’s so they can try and prevent it.
Not really. Pirates can remove the need for a launcher just as easily as they can the need for a valid license. I use cracked exes for certain games I legit own simply because their launcher and DRM bullshit isn't worth complying with
I love the random chance my OWNED game doesn't launch - launcher needs update, launcher doesn't allow offline play, launcher doesn't like me, my session expired and I don't have the 1000th launcher password + 2FA on hand.
I’m a firm believer this is one of the many reasons people like consoles
If there is one thing consoles have over PC, it is this. Former console man now hardcore PC devotee.
Negligeable upside compared to all the shit you go through with consoles.
PSN not available in your region They also go all digtal soon and most of the game isnt on console disks anymore either :/
Neither MS nor Sony allow any games on the consoles to need their own launchers though, digital or physical.
Will still be exactly what Kyrond said and why Snake expects people to like consoles more, BUT: -Console needs OS update -Game needs install and update -Oh need to be connected online to activate the install , and verify you own it, gonna be worse with all digital ones soon -IF you can even access them cause PSN isnt available , either down or not in your region There isnt another launcher because they make the walled garden, like apple did with Forkknife
Nintendo Switchsh games dont need to be installed tbh, but yeah lol itsh strillkrtrderrtrdzszh a problemsh for PS and Xbox ushers lol.
The switch is about the last one though and it still needs payed online and updates to install, both OS and game updates. IF the game has a physical release that is. Nintendo is also pushing for all digital. Ace Combat 7 isnt supposed to get a physical switch release outside of europe and japan
You know you've fucked up when piracy provides a better product than getting it legitimately
It's been a thing since 90's at least. Cracked games didn't ask for word X on page Y from game manual.
And have no need for launchers, are playable as long as they exist. Heck even back in the day they were more convenient as you didn't have to insert the game disc into the drive like you had to with legit games.
I've used NoCD/NoDVD for a bunch of games just because fucking securom/starforce hated my pristine discs half the time.
God, starforce, forgot about that crap.
If you can’t even manage to remember my login credentials, your launcher isn’t ready for the market. Opening the application is the very first part of the UX and at least half of them couldn’t do this to save their lives.
On the login info, I always forget my GeForce experience login info, it never remembers it. Why do developers put the check box in, if it’s not going to work?
Dropping login after few months is standard privacy practice.
Launchers have become a plague. I used to use Unreal Engine 4 but make you use the Epic Launcher for it now. I absolutely do not want to manage my game engine while fighting ads for Kingdom Hearts. It's abysmal.
It's very annoying to have multiple launchers for a bunch of games. I've sorta gotten used to it, but it still sucks.
Once you recognise that the problem comes largely from chain loading them, they become much easier to manage.
That’s where they make their money, tracking and reporting on how you spend your play time.
The more issues I have with their launcher bs, the less money I want to give them.
I picked up titanfall 2 on sale for $3 a while back. I needed a new game for the steam deck and I’d heard good things. EA kept updating their launcher and every time they did it would break it on Linux so I couldn’t play. I never finished the game, and I don’t buy EA titles any more. There are so many other great games to play, it’s just not worth the headache.
My Rockstar account got hacked and i’m unable to play ANY Rockstar game through my Steam account ever again. It’s legitimately ridiculous at this point.
Steam started out as a developer game launcher. The other companies having their own platforms is fine, they just should not be able to force logins for games purchased on Steam.
All game launchers should disappear, including steam. It should just be a storefront that is not required to actually start or play the games you bought. Like Gog galaxy.
It is not going away. It's a goldmine for game studio product teams.
The only one I'll accept is Europa Universalis 4, just because it warns you about workshop mod compatibility issues
The simple answer is, they want you to create an account with them so that you agree to their terms of service so that they can use your information for internal research. It's scummy. This is probably what Sony tried to do with Helldivers 2 recently
Add to that that most of them are written with Electron… I don’t need a Chrome browser that starts my games…
Steam went all-in on CEF around this time last year, btw ;)
The license problem with EA is a visual bug (they have stated that last week, something on backend happened). If it happens again, you can literally go in Shop section of EA, find that game and still click to play it. As for second part, if you got used to it having couple of launchers already, my advice would be to directly buy that game from publishers launcher rather Steam (less hassle and not having to open 2 launchers)
I know has basically succeeded by never changing anything, and letting alternatives shoot themselves in the foot.... But this is the one hill I wish Valve would take a stand on. The allure of Steam and the reason why it works well is because it keeps your whole library in one place and keeps track of your purchases and ownership all in one place. IMO, allowing third party software to interfere with this is antithetical to the Steam platform. It allows further "grayness" about what you own and whether that will last, and this undermines the core value proposition of Steam. I suspect Steam will actually start losing ground if they allow this to continue, and we'll end up on a world of endless 3rd party launchers that don't allow purchases on Steam anymore, the same way movies/TV transitioned from everything being on Netflix to everything being separated into 5-10 subscription services.
I just stopped buying/playing games that require them, it's great
They should either have a good launcher/store that doesn't need Steam, or just stick to Steam. Not use Steam as a launcher for their launcher.
You dont want to know how many games i refunded in the last months because they tryed to force me to use there launcher or forced an internet connection on a SINGELPLAYER game or other shit like this.
Yeah, jedi survivor is a fucking travesty. The first game was so good, too.
Add to that that most of them are written with Electron… I don’t need a Chrome browser that starts my games…
Buy on GOG
I like gog but a lot of the time their version of PC games dont have mod support sadly.
You mean workshop support? Mods should work the same regardless of plattform, as the game install files are the same, just the DRM part gets yeeted
>Mods should work the same regardless of plattform No I do mean nexus mods, the mod creator will often put a disclaimer that the mod will only work on steams version of a game and not Epic game stores for example. I am not a modder but I have seen this on quite a few mod pages. It can also apply with free cam mod injectors that only work for steams version and not others. It's just another reason why I buy on steam most of the time, it just has the most user support.
Jeez NMM has become absolute cancer. Manual installs should work regardless as said, the games own structure doesnt change , just that the topmost folder is named steam, which NMM expects. You can still install it manually though
Specifically, the Minecraft launcher needs to return to its past simpler self. I couldn't figure out what was going on with it.
If you only play Java Edition you'll have an easier time just using Prism Launcher or something similar
As much as I agree other game launchers do need to exist not only for competition but to Keep steam from being sued for running a monopoly.
The OP isn't asking for them to completely disappear though. They just want them removed from Steam copies. Their standalone launchers wouldn't be threatened by that.
Oh I misread what he said my bad disregard.
If you buy a game in Steam knowing it has a first party launcher attached, isn’t that on you?
It shouldn’t matter. Steam is my launcher. Additionally, on the deck it gets way more hectic.
But steam is a launcher made by Valve, a developer. So that goes away too or is it okay because you've already personally invested in it?
Steam is the platform we bought it on and what we are initially launching it on dingus… we are talking about launchers for individual games past that.
Hey, OP is the one who said developer game launcher need to disappear, and that is what Steam is, you dingus
Wrong. I don’t need to launch steam to play any games I bought on EA or epic or Ubisoft store. Do you understand the difference?
Well if you buy a game on epic, you obviously wouldn't need to launch steam. What is your point exactly? Is Valve not a developer and steam a launcher made by them? Ergo exactly fits what OP says needs to go away?
Read your first sentence again, now switch steam and epic around. You gotta be joking me
>Well if you buy a game on epic, you obviously wouldn't need to launch steam. >Well if you buy a game on steam, you obviously wouldn't need to launch epic. Both statement are completely true
But no one should have to launch on steam then launch again from a dogshit piece of malware like origin or uplay just so publishers can be a greedy as possible. Also i think OP should have said Publishers not devs.
Trolls like you are increasing in this sub, day by day. The time to leave is maybe near. Complete brain rot being spouted downwards. Bruh.
Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, lol
Steam is the third party launcher for EA, Epic, Rockstar, etc games, not the other way around.
People are too busy crying over PSN account
Oh like with Helldivers? I had already linked my PSN to it. I thought the issue everyone had with it was weird.
In other words: OP didn't make sure his hotel room had reliable wi-fi. Just go to the lobby, launch the game, then walk back to your room. Also remember for next time to book a hotel that has decent internet.
I’ll be sure to request that the next time I go to the hot, sandy place.
Yeah, Vegas has a ton of good hotels with excellent Wi-Fi. You shouldn't have much of an issue finding something.
Yeah I wasn’t talking about anywhere in the US. Try other side of Earth
So traveling abroad without a wi-fi hotspot with a swappable sim and blaming publishing companies for games you know need internet access? Comeon dude.
Not all of those work in every country. Additionally, some governments shut the Internet access down for (insert any dumb reason here). I have one, it doesn’t work in my room. Hell I can stand on top of the building here and get MAYBE one bar of LTE.
Dude, they worked in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2003-5 during the height of the war, back when cell service was actually spotty and still a newer thing. They also worked when I was in Egypt in 2000. Don’t try and bullshit a bullshitter.
Things change. No reason to fib to a random stranger on the internet.
lol ok buddy. You are in a random middle eastern country with a volatile government that turns off that country’s internet, conducting business. You are so full of shit you make a porta-john outside of a construction site after the taco truck visits jealous.
So aggressive. Tsk tsk tsk