There's still too Many Launchers in PC Gaming!
383It's 2021, are there still too many launchers in PC Gaming? Or have things changed for the better?
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For how much I love PC gaming, there's one tiny thing that really peeves me off, it's all the different game launchers, oof. You buy a PC game and you'll have to download a specific launcher to install and launch the game, and your PC game library will be split over multiple launchers, as well as other inconveniences. There's almost a lite version of the console wars going on but it's PC launchers instead, It's not exactly the end of the world but it is an annoyance that rubs me the wrong way. Petty? Hell yeah but you know what you were getting into when you clicked the thumbnail.
I originally did a video covering this a few years ago, but it's now out of date, and it surprisingly got views. So it makes sense for me to revise this. Since then we've got even more launchers, Steam, Epic Games Store, Blizzard's Battle.net, Xbox App, Ubisoft Connect, Bethesda.Net, GoG Galaxy, Amazon Games App, EA's Origin, Dominos App...wait...not that one, and a few other less common launchers. If we're including streaming, there's Playstation Now and Stadia, too
The voice chat service Discord originally got in on the games too but later abandoned it in late 2019.
So why do all of these different launchers exist? It's because companies are trying to bypass the revenue split involved when selling through a physical computer game store or an external digital store like steam. This revenue split is usually around 30/70 with 30% of a sale going to the game store or launcher, in exchange for, promoting your game through advertising, selling your game, offering download servers, and hopefully many other bonuses. But a lot of games companies are wanting a bigger piece of pie.
Of course you don't need to run every launcher at once, just the launcher linked with what you game you want to play.
Your games library is split across these different launchers, sometimes a series of games is frustratingly across different launchers. I own the Assassin's Creed series on Steam but the latest game is exclusive to Ubisoft Connect and Epic Games Store, and I own the Remade Crash Bandicoot 1, 2, and 3 on Steam but Crash Bandicoot 4 is now exclusive to Blizzard's Battle.net. Just a pain in the arse.
Some companies are sneaky... and double up, they sell their game through a store like Steam but still require you to use their launcher, like Ubisoft Connect or Origin. So you launch Steam, launch the game, which then launches Ubisoft Connect, that then launches your game, you can then finally play your game. Meanwhile at Ubisoft...We heard you like launching launchers, so we put a launcher inside your launcher, so you can launch a launcher when launching your game
At any point one of these half arsed game launchers can just terminate your account or shut down their service. That's what happened with Microsoft's Games for Windows Live, RIP my digital copy of Age of Empires.
My biggest issue with all of these different launchers, is when games have different multiplayer servers or versions on different launchers. Take Dying Light for example, I own a Steam copy of Dying Light and a friend owned a GoG copy. It was impossible to play together as they worked off different severs. This is a pretty uncommon problem these days but it still happens with specific games. I've had a few issues with Age of Empires 2 also, with Steam and the Microsoft Store offering different patch versions of the game - my friends and I had our games up-to-date. This eventually got sorted out and the right patches were pushed through but it ruined a potential gaming night.
So, we're used to having one dedicated platform - Steam, this dominated PC gaming alone for just under 10 years. This is where most gamers have the majority of their digital PC games library. Steam itself has had nearly 20 years of developments, we've got achievement systems, cloud saving, a decent refund system, modding support, game forums, player made guides, friends lists, private game streaming to friends, remote play, dedicated custom controller support, cloud space for your screenshot library, the ability to write detailed reviews for items on the store, and so on and on.
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