Please, No More Launchers

Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered on PC has a Sony launcher hidden in its files, and I'm already so tired

[Abracadabra]

Number of launchers on PC is absurd.

... but the worst part is when you have a launcher in another launcher. There are quite a few examples in Steam and Epic Sore.

[Fishy Fingers]

Agreed, personally I already have:
Steam
GOG
EA app
Xbox app
UPlay
Epic
Battlenet
Battlestate
I know its just clicking another icon but its more bloat and its a pain in the ass having to juggle friends accounts, names and if you care, achievements etc.

[staticall]

And storing extra payment details in other services, even all the disk space they take (it's not that much but still adds up) and keeping in mind the privacy concerns (like Epic launcher used to scan your Steam data). No to mention, they're usually install themselves as a services in your system (for notifications, update etc), autorun on system startup (you can disable it, but by default it's on).

And what i hate the most probably (it's minor, but still) is that i usually don't start launchers, unless i want to install some game i own. But every desktop icon first runs the launcher and only launcher starts the game. So instead of playing the game right away, i have to wait till Steam opens up, updates, only then i can play. Kinda annoying

[roadkillers]

Is it possible for a developer to make a congregated launcher? Something similar to banking apps that pull in all of your savings, checking, debts, and stocks? I think if that is possible, having the icons run in the background… could be where the money is at.

I know chromecast allows some of the apps to display the videos on the main page… yet it still opens the app hmmm

[crazyCoconuts]

@roadkillers, check out the GOG beta launcher... It's goal has been to be exactly that. I was pretty excited at first, and used it to organize my games across platforms, but I feel it's losing momentum now. For example, the PlayStation integration is currently in disrepair

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

@roadkillers there are two apps: GOG Galaxy 2.0 and Playnite. I'd recommend Playnite. It's highly customisable, open-source, regularly updated, has plenty of features and add-ons, and you can link to all the known launchers or add games on your own.

[Yui_Suzumiya]

That's why I just buy everything from Jastusa or Denpasoft. Buy the game, download and install. Just like when I was gaming in the 90's on PC. I've never used a launcher.

[XxINFERNUSxX]

Only have Steam and GOG nothing else. All other games I get my own way. 🏴‍☠️😊 They need to stop the bullshit, cause they will never get a cent from me.

[Melankolis]

Other companies are not welcomed to have exclusive launchers because people already have too many launchers?.

[Bladesfist]

They're welcome to try, PC Gamers are also welcome to just ignore them.

[garryxcs]

They won't.

[INMATEofARKHAM]

@garryxcs Some will. I don't even grab the free games on Epic because I don't like their launcher. Every exclusive game they get I just ignore till it comes out on Steam.

Ubisoft I pretty much ignore, Battle.Net I do use but just for Blizzard games, Origin I never really adopted. GOG I use for older stuff.

So honestly if it's not on Steam I just don't see it.

[JEECE]

@INMATEofARKHAM

Exactly. I'd rather pay for a game to have it on Steam than have it for free on Epic. It's such a nuisance that Epic made a game store.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I'm okay with extra launchers, but Steam and GOG are pretty much the best ones and alot of the others kinda suck, plus, some of them eventually fail and your account gets rolled into some other pre-existing service. I'm glad the Bethesda launcher died as it was a pain (no download resume? WTF?) and rolled all your games/existing account into Steam.

As long as Sony makes a good launcher, I don't mind installing and keeping it.

[JEECE]

Yes. I love PlayStation but I can't describe how much I hate having my PC games split across multiple launchers. On my most recent PC I just limited it to Steam, GOG, and Xbox (and even that is annoying). GOG is necessary to play some older games that aren't on Steam, and I use the Xbox app because I have Gamepass. But at this point if something requires anything else but those, like Epic or Origin, I just won't play it.

[Melankolis]

Aaah ...it's a classic thing. You decide. Which is bigger? your love for Playstation or your hatred for Launchers?

[Deeeeznuuuts]

First world problems eh? 😅

[Class_Viceroy]

Haha exactly. Apparently many people don’t remember CDs or had to experience using one. Poor things have to take 5 seconds to click a button that’s already perfectly organized on their desktop.

I always laugh when my wife gets mad when we’re streaming tv or a movie and it takes 20 seconds for an app to load on our TV. “Aww babe is that 4k quality entertainment not moving through the air fast enough for you?” Always a good laugh between us.

[Number1TailzFan]

CD music and Bluray discs are completely different tho, that's how you get the highest quality vs streaming.

[AuraAbjure]

My sentiment exactly DeeezNuuts!

[TheEnigma313]

all these damn launchers are like all these streaming services. Too many of them.

[masterfox]

huh?, why is even this an article?, also why is a PS logo appear in this article about this matter?, PS games relative new to PC gaming and company launchers was already an annoyance since several years ago.

And about the "and I'm already so tired" , so it wasn't tiring when you have on your god damn desktop 6 or 7 launchers already?, get the hell out of here seriously!, a topic or crying like from some journo should it appear the moment PC gamers had like 2 or maybe 3 launchers on screen since years ago, but since the Playstation brand does a bit of something that maybe can annoy someone, everyone is like: "OMG Sony how dare you!!!, lets go and get him!!!", uuuughhh.

[dumahim]

Did you real the article, perhaps? Or even the single sentence preview just under the title?

[SeTTriP]

Why would he have to when the comment section of ppl who've read the article pretty much is proving his point?

A pc is a hub for applications and you like pc but at the same time you hate using its most essential and basic function?every thing launchs on pc for chist sakes, what are ya'll crying about?

[Snakeeater25]

you know where there is no launchers ?

on PS5 where the game was made

Quit whining PC gamers

[Shiore2u]

Who needs to worry about launchers on there when you have no games?

[garryxcs]

There's lots of games, good try though.

[Shiore2u]

@garryxcs "Lots". There's like five "where the games were made", after two whole years. Two of which being highly forgettable such as discount-sackboy product placement platformer and the ragamuffin Twisted Metal wannabe.

[garryxcs]

So now it's "five", ok so you admit its not "no games", thanks.

[Shiore2u]

@garryxcs Five is basically zero from my superior standards

[garryxcs]

Well that's not how numbers work regardless of your standards. It's ok though you already admitted it's not "no games" in effect rendering your initial comment trolling. Good day.

[Shiore2u]

@garryxcs No one's fault but your own for taking something made clearly in jest literally. Nobody actually thinks there's "zero". How many of your neurons have died by your own hand?

[Snakeeater25]

No game well the dude who wrote the article was crying that there is a launcher to play at the amazing ps5 games on pc … sooo ??
Did you had fun with Spider-Man pc version with that launcher braaaawwwhhh

[Father__Merrin]

You literally have to move your mouse 2 clicks. Pin your launchers on the bottom in Win 11 its as simple as that

[MarkyMark89]

Eww you use Win 11?

[Snakeeater25]

Lol are you still on XP and saying it’s the best windows to play StarCraft

[gamerz]

So sorry to hear about your mental illness. Get well soon!

[Father__Merrin]

You should not joke about mental illness when it has nothing to do with the subject or comment... you should be banned for that

[n1kki6]

I know I am in the minority here. But I don't mind a launcher if it's from a company that owns an ecosystem. For me those three would be Microsoft, Steam, and Sony. If I can have a bespoke experience for my console ecosystems on PC and well as steam, then I am all in. What I don't need is seperate launchers for rockstar, EA, ubisoft, gog, epic, etc....

[Father__Merrin]

If its a launcher for just one game it's not worth it like battlenet etc or that failed Bethesda launcher

[FortWaba]

If getting a Playstation launcher means unlocking PS Trophies on PC, BRING IT ON!

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

YES! It's the thing I miss the most from playing on PS4. There's just something different about that notification popping with a Bronze/Silver/Gold/Platinum trophy that mere numbers on Steam or Xbox can't hit.

[TheColbertinator]

The trophies was a nice touch I admit

[SDuck]

It got out of hand when RDR2 came out and there was a bug that forced me to open both the Rockstar launcher and the Epic Store launcher beforehand so I could launch the game

[generic-user-name]

You can't win with PC gamers. They whine when consoles have exclusives and call it anti-competitive (the opposite of the truth), when those exclusives do go to PC they're only allowed go to Steam because all of a sudden they no longer care about competition and are more than happy for Valve to have a monopoly on PC. What a joke.

[masterfox]

bu..but....but... I thought they were the master race!!, they know everything , they are never wrong !! am I right? :D

[Pocahontas]

They still use four buttons for character movements. Masters at lying to themselves maybe.

[Snakeeater25]

Master race lol of crying and cheating with aimbot yeah for sure

[Shiore2u]

If you three project any harder you won't need tvs with input lag anymore.

[generic-user-name]

I may be the target of this but I still laughed. Good comedy is good comedy.

[Bladesfist]

On the off chance that you're being serious, there is nothing competitive about any games being exclusive to any stores. We want games to be available across all storefronts. Forcing us to use one is not competitive. It's like saying utilities are competitive as there are multiple companies, even if they all stay off each others turf.

[generic-user-name]

"there is nothing competitive about any games being exclusive to any stores"

This is a blatant act of competition. Why would you lock a game to your store if you're not competing with other stores? It's basic business.

"Forcing us to use one is not competitive. It's like saying utilities are competitive as there are multiple companies, even if they all stay off each others turf."

Except it's not like that is it? Firstly as all PC storefronts are free to access simultaneous with the click of your mouse, you can freely move through them at your leisure, you're not entering into 12-18 month contracts like you would with your utilities.

Secondly, one store getting an exclusive drives the other stores to do something themselves to counter it, aka, fund/develop their own exclusives. Maybe Valve would actually release more than 1 game every decade if they ever got any real competition over there. Gabe himself has stated he is glad to see Epic competing with Steam with their exclusives.

[Bladesfist]

How are they competing when selling an exclusive, they are the only ones who can sell it. No other store can offer the consumer a lower price, no other store can offer better features (remote play, controller remapping, workshop, cloud saves). There is no reason for these stores to improve things for the consumer if they are the only store allowed the goods.

"Secondly, one store getting an exclusive drives the other stores to do something themselves to counter it, aka, fund/develop their own exclusives. Maybe Valve would actually release more than 1 game every decade if they ever got any real competition over there. Gabe himself has stated he is glad to see Epic competing with Steam with their exclusives."

I've seen absolutely zero evidence of this. Epic is just trying to win marketshare with exclusives and Valve doesn't seem to even acknowledge it. How will the small PC stores be able to counter these deals, your idea of competition seems to be geared around big companies dominating the smaller ones out of existence, reducing choice even further.

[generic-user-name]

"How are they competing when selling an exclusive, they are the only ones who can sell it. No other store can offer the consumer a lower price, no other store can offer better features (remote play, controller remapping, workshop, cloud saves). There is no reason for these stores to improve things for the consumer if they are the only store allowed the goods."

You, and many other PC gamers, seem to think competition can only occur when the product sold is identical. When in fact the act of making the product only available on shopfront is exactly what makes it competition. When Halo became a big success for Xbox, what did Sony do? Did they get Halo on PS2? No, Xbox made sure that couldn't happen when they bought the rights to it, so what did Sony do? They had Killzone developed. Sony had massive success with Gran Turismo, MS came along with Forza Motorsport to compete in that space.

"Microsoft director Kiki Wolfkill stating, "we are targeting Gran Turismo with this game on Xbox, and I think we've been very focused on that. We have a lot of respect for Gran Turismo, which helps drive that desire to beat them." - wikipedia

These great franchises, and many others, all exist because they aren't on competing platforms and competitors felt they needed an answer to them.

"I've seen absolutely zero evidence of this."

There's any amount of evidence of this in the console space. Competition is a new thing for Steam, EGS being the first real push any company have made. Of course, Steam are so entrenched that it's a monumental task to take market share from them. There's been some signs, a new Half Life game released since EGS. The Halo MCC came to Steam but not EGS, why? EGS will have to continue down this path to put a dent in what Valve have built and force them to act. Imagine a Valve showcase every E3 where they show off a suite of games they are funding themselves.

"How will the small PC stores be able to counter these deals, your idea of competition seems to be geared around big companies dominating the smaller ones out of existence, reducing choice even further."

That's how the free market works. How did Ouya hold up against PS/Xbox/Nintendo? But it's not like the small PC stores were making any real competition with Steam, just living off their crumbs.

[Father__Merrin]

They are UNABLE to spend 1 second of thier time to click an icon to launch a launcher one the same pc, same monitor same gpu same cpu same hdd in fact they could auto launch from windows startup yet fail to do it.

I do agree that there can be a point of too many launchers but even then its not too bad. I can imagine them quivering at the mouse in dispair for no apparant reason at the thought of it

[generic-user-name]

At worst it's a minor annoyance. The entitlement is obscene.

[SeTTriP]

Don't know how your getting disagreed with and blade is getting agreed with?

One is 100% correct on how competition works in the gaming space and the other is explaining what he feels competition should be.but its not that way, never was that way and never well be that way.

McDonald's has a serect sauce, should they give it to everybody in the spirit of competition?

How is what he saying making sense to ppl?

[Bladesfist]

Because it is that way on PC and Console. Pretty much any new game that's coming out that isn't exclusive to any one store can be found cheaper on sites like greanmangaming than Steam. Just like you can shop around for physical console games at Target or Walmart or whichever store. Those stores compete against each other and so the price of the product goes down. I don't understand why that is hard to understand. It's basic competition.

It's not like EA enters exclusivity deals to only sell their games through Walmart, would you be in favour of that? Guess how many stores PC gamers can buy Alan Wake Remastered through? One. They could at least allow other stores to sell keys that then activate on the Epic platform so we can have some level of competition.

[generic-user-name]

There's a lot of feelings over logic when it comes to PC gamers and what competition is. Did Phil drop $100m on 1 year ROTR exclusivity for fun? No, they did it to compete with Sony. They can't handle the truth.

[Number1TailzFan]

We had multiplayer launchers in the 90's and early 2000's like Gamespy, Wireplay and Mplayer. Granted you didn't always need them, especially not for games that already had built in chat/lobbies like Worms 2. But they were sometimes handy for finding players in certain games.

[Pedrof]

So I heard you like launchers...

[BrockEmSockEm]

Honestly, I hate it, but it also saves me from spending money.

[Orchard]

100% agree. Aside from Steam and perhaps Epic, all other launchers don't need to exist, and none are as simple and reliable as Steam.

Heck, if they would let you use your GamePass subscription on Steam like EA did with EA Play, I would even use Steam for my GamePass games.

[xander31]

what a useless article

[Miacosa]

If it means cross-buy and trophy support don't really care.

[Christopher]

The launcher is likely for PS++ and not for competing against STeam or GOG or Epic.

[Giblet_Head]

FYI to those who don't understand from a lack of experience or just general preferred ignorance run amok; the problem with multiple launchers is that really only Steam has strived to be feature rich when it comes to game support. Valve continually adds new features while the rest barely if ever do anything but dump titles with occasional security updates. Uplay, Epic, Origin, Rockstar, etc tend to simply half-ass it. Most people aren't upset about the fact there's too many, but rather the repetition from a lack of trying by others makes another uninviting, much less want to invest in.

I would welcome it only on the condition that they also simultaneously release their titles to Steam, GOG, Epic etc. PC is about options after all. If their launcher is actually good and feature rich then it will last. Forcing people to use it on the basis of exclusivity won't however. Epic and others are learning that lesson the hard way.

[generic-user-name]

Valve have had many more years than its competition. This line of thinking ensures Steam remains dominant and the others float on the periphery, too risky to invest heavily in as Steam hogs all the audience.

"Epic and others are learning that lesson the hard way."

Epic have been the first real moving of the needle in terms of Steam competitors precisely because of their methods.

"as of August 2021, the Epic Games Store has around 58 million active monthly users. This implies that the user base of Epic Games Store had increased twofold since 2019 when the store had 32 million monthly users."

PC players are not entitled to every PC game going to Steam, just like PlayStation players aren't entitled to Halo coming to PS5. PC is about options, the option is there for you to sign up for the launcher that has the game you want.

[Giblet_Head]

"Valve have had many more years than its competition. This line of thinking ensures Steam remains dominant and the others float on the periphery, too risky to invest heavily in as Steam hogs all the audience."

The others have has plenty of time to use Steam as a template to copy from, but prefer to do the bare minimum. That thinking persists because of their lack of trying.

"Epic have been the first real moving of the needle in terms of Steam competitors precisely because of their methods."

Epic has been reporting losses due to their exclusivity deals. The apple lawsuit shows this. They're burning through their fortnite money fast. PC gamers aren't like console gamers. We aren't behold to proprietary hardware and a closed off ecosystem nor do our standards lower because companies decide they will for the sake of profit. We have the ability to voice our discontent as consumers. We like having an open platform, and as such companies have slowly started learning that over the years. It took GFWL failing for Microsoft to learn that. Epic isn't far behind repeating history.

"as of August 2021, the Epic Games Store has around 58 million active monthly users. This implies that the user base of Epic Games Store had increased twofold since 2019 when the store had 32 million monthly users."

It doesn't matter how many users they have, the profits aren't there. Their storefront offers free games weekly, and most people only use the Epic Store for those free games. The launcher itself has next to no features, so there's little to no incentive to spend money on it.

"PC players are not entitled to every PC game going to Steam, just like PlayStation players aren't entitled to Halo coming to PS5. PC is about options, the option is there for you to sign up for the launcher that has the game you want."

The problem is you approach this from a console gamer mindset, you confuse consumer choice with entitlement because you have been conditioned to believe you have no voice as a consumer otherwise meant to be appealed to, coming from a closed platform where the amount of choice you have is set by a single company. A consequence of brand loyalty over self-respect. PC gamers have options yes, and those options aren't limited to just what the company wants nor should it be.

[generic-user-name]

"Epic has been reporting losses due to their exclusivity deals."

And Game Pass is doing the exact same for MS, but it's an investment. This is what it takes to try and dethrone Steam from it's throne, a throne so loyally defended by those who have grown accustomed to it over the decades.

"It took GFWL failing for Microsoft to learn that."

Bend to our entitlement or die? Not everyone needs to make the same mistakes GFWL made, doesn't mean you roll over and let Steam dominate.

"Their storefront offers free games weekly, and most people only use the Epic Store for those free games. The launcher itself has next to no features, so there's little to no incentive to spend money on it."

Irrelevant, I never said they were profitable. It gets people in the door and keeps them coming back. I'm certain if Epic had all the features Steam has, there'd still be whining, see PS vs Xbox for proof of that.

"The problem is you approach this from a console gamer mindset"

Actually I approach it from the actual business viewpoint of what defines competition, not what I 'feel' is competition.

"you have been conditioned to believe you have no voice as a consumer otherwise meant to be appealed to, coming from a closed platform where the amount of choice you have is set by a single company."

Just as you are free to download another launcher, I am free to buy another console or even a PC. There is my consumer choice. The difference being you can download those launchers for free with two clicks of a mouse and still feel entitlement despite the ease, whereas in the console space, this form of competition has been understood for a long time.

Epic is real competition, something that is a shock to PC gamer's system, and you don't like it. Alas it is for the good of the PC market.

[Giblet_Head]

"And Game Pass is doing the exact same for MS, but it's an investment. This is what it takes to try and dethrone Steam from it's throne, a throne so loyally defended by those who have grown accustomed to it over the decades."

Thing about an investment is there are good and bad ones. The long haul isn't guaranteed to be good, and the reception toward Epic Store exclusivity is not good, outright vehemently hated in fact, and that reflects in the profit loss. Either Epic will put the brakes down before going bankrupt and learn from the market or they'll fade into obscurity once the Fortnite trend inevitably subsides.

"Bend to our entitlement or die? Not everyone needs to make the same mistakes GFWL made, doesn't mean you roll over and let Steam dominate."

The point is to be appealed to as a consumer. Nobody needs to make the same mistakes as GFWL, but Epic appears dead-set on learning that lesson.

"Irrelevant, I never said they were profitable. It gets people in the door and keeps them coming back. I'm certain if Epic had all the features Steam has, there'd still be whining, see PS vs Xbox for proof of that."

So your point meant nothing? Who cares if it keeps them coming back. They're only there for the free games, they're not sticking around to actually spend money. It's an asinine business move for a market Epic clearly doesn't understand, but if people want to take advantage of it at their expense then by all means. It won't amount to anything but loss unless they change their ways.

"Actually I approach it from the actual business viewpoint of what defines competition, not what I 'feel' is competition."

Then you have a warped viewpoint of what good business is.

"Just as you are free to download another launcher, I am free to buy another console or even a PC. There is my consumer choice. The difference being you can download those launchers for free with two clicks of a mouse and still feel entitlement despite the ease, whereas in the console space, this form of competition has been understood for a long time."

You're free to limit yourself in anyway you see fit, you game on console after all, but I also have the ability to go around that, because I game on an open platform. If a company doesn't like that then that's their problem and they should take their business elsewhere or deal with it, the latter of which is really their only option if they want to do business on an open platform.

"Epic is real competition, something that is a shock to PC gamer's system, and you don't like it. Alas it is for the good of the PC market."

Epic is a fart in the wind as far as I'm concerned. They're doing business on borrowed time. Anyone that takes them seriously is deluded.

[generic-user-name]

Epic may very well fail, won't claim otherwise, as Steam has such a stranglehold on the PC market space that gaining any kind of footing is a miracle, and that's what they've managed to do. Imagine if Nintendo had no competition for 20 years, all those games that never would have been funded or developed because nobody could stand up to them. That is the reality of the PC market and it's bizarre to see PC gamers fight so hard against EGS to keep that status quo, simply because it's what they've grown accustomed to and EGS doesn't yet have some frivolous reviews feature and it's such an inconvenience to download a program. And yet, Steam too was vehemently hated when it arrived 20 years ago, they had time to get it right.

"Who cares if it keeps them coming back. They're only there for the free games, they're not sticking around to actually spend money."

The idea being that the more the consumers' EGS library grows, the more they return. If their free game has a DLC expansion, where will they buy that? It's slow, but it's one tactic. And Epic have enough money to drag this out for years, Fortnite and Unreal Engine aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Epic themselves claim they won't be (accumulatively) profitable until 2027. They're still on track, and how many more features will EGS store have by then? Your arguments against them will only weaken over time. And if they pull it off and close in on Steam, Valve will act, and that act will only be beneficial because competition drives innovation.

"Then you have a warped viewpoint of what good business is."

It is not my view, anymore than the sky being blue is my view.

"You're free to limit yourself in anyway you see fit, you game on console after all, but I also have the ability to go around that, because I game on an open platform."

Anyone not gaming on every possible platform is limiting themselves in some way. You're not playing Bloodborne on PC after all.

"If a company doesn't like that then that's their problem and they should take their business elsewhere or deal with it"

Epic is literally counting on the fact that PC players are playing on an open platform. What hope would they have otherwise. Provide whatever ultimatums you like, it's been nearly 4 years and they haven't gone away and they seem determined not to. And now it looks like they may have even inspired Sony to do the same. Competition breeds competition after all.

"Epic is a fart in the wind as far as I'm concerned. They're doing business on borrowed time. Anyone that takes them seriously is deluded."

I wonder how many said the same about Steam in 2003.

[Destiny1080]

just download more ram from the microsoft store and if you already have enough ram downloaded make sure its kept up to date

[Docknoss]

Stacey Henley

"whiny conservative babies have removed the Pride flag and replaced it with the Stars and Stripes"?!
Oh how funny and hateful the left commies are. I hope the purge is actually a document about the future.

[yuukiliu]

PC master race complaining about stuff? NO F’ing way

[ANIALATOR136]

There are people that think they're superior because they have an expensive PC but the real reason PC is so important is because its essentially an archive. Games can never be lost to generation leaps because there will always be some way of getting it to run on a PC. Take MGS4 for example, there's no proper way to play that other than on a PS3. But on PC you can use a PS3 emulator to play it. And at a higher frame rate than running on the original hardware. Its not perfect but its almost there.

[AuraAbjure]

First- world country problems.

[Docknoss]

Facts brother

[Kekewei]

Yes I always hate launchers but playstation launcher is an exception. I wish to sync my trophies and saves between pc and ps one day. None of these is possible without a launcher.