New to PC gaming - what is the issue with all these game "launchers"?

[Oracle]

Pardon my ignorance but it's quite obvious this is a massive issue for a lot of people here. With all the different software launchers for games and exclusivity of titles to them I see people boycotting games altogether.

Why is this ? What am I missing? To me it seems like a non issue.

Explain why you feel it's an issue.

 

[Jaded Alyx]

There is very little issue with different launchers.

 

[Deleted member 32374]

There is very little issue with different launchers.

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Wrong, but really, its been discussed to death.

OP, you can do some research on this, a lot has been written about why this is an issue.

Long story short: The PC is an open platform and many of us are opposed to any attempt to lock it down and create walled gardens. We've seen it in the past and its always either been shit or gone to shit in short order.

 

[Deleted member 4482]

I advise you to ignore the whining and just get whatever games you want to play wherever they are. People here would have you believe launcher exclusives are equivalent to console exclusives, but they're at no expense to you.

 

[Deleted member 2625]

They want all their games in one nice little pile in a single window

2-3 windows is like... well it's too horrible to explain

 

[dsk1210]

Most people don't have a problem with multiple launchers, it's Epic's money hatting to keep the games appearing on others store that is pissing people off.

 

[PrimeBeef]

Needing many different launches to play your games is annoying as fuck. Especially when you have more than a couple. Then that is just more to keep track of, security and privacy concerns, and updates. Then, more recently with Epic, in order to create value, they have to moneyhat games to be exclusives on thier platform, all in the name of competition.

 

[z1ggy]

Noone bothers having launchers, people have an issue with Epic Games store because of their anti consumer practices. Simple as that.

Its getting tired tho that a lot of people comes with i dont understand its just another launcher when it was discussed to death.

But i do understand than most of people saying this are trolls.

 

[Bradford]

The issue isn't necessarily with the fact that there are launchers, it's with how each launcher is in a completely different spot feature wise and many of them have privacy issues. Epic Games Store and Bethesda Launcher are the two worst right now.

Most people don't mind GOG, Steam, or BattleNet.

Aside from that, it's just the major annoyance of having multiple accounts and services all running at once, all requiring different passwords, 2factor, etc. It's a gigantic pain in the ass that people can't just choose one and have coverage. For stores that compete it's not a big deal, but for "exclusives" it's a gigantic pain in the ass.

And that's all before we even touch on stuff like regional pricing and issues regarding distribution.

 

[Deleted member 32374]

I advise you to ignore the whining and just get whatever games you want to play wherever they are. People here would have you believe launcher exclusives are equivalent to console exclusives, but they're at no expense to you.

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"Whining"

Way to mischaracterize the many well reasoned and thought out posts about the opposition to the Epic Games Store.

Lovely.

 

[Jaded Alyx]

Wrong, but really, its been discussed to death.

OP, you can do some research on this, a lot has been written about why this is an issue.

Long story short: The PC is an open platform and many of us are opposed to any attempt to lock it down and create walled gardens. We've seen it in the past and its always either been shit or gone to shit in short order.

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Wrong? Few people complain about having multiple launchers but the actual issue many more people have is to do with the EGS and the actions of Epic. That's different.

 

[Hamster Plugin]

Most of them have nothing. It just becomes frustrating when there's like 10 launchers on your desktop and you need to remember what launcher has what games on it. Then there's the issue of having lots of accounts to keep track of and it being good practice to have different passwords for all of them as well.

There are a few launcher specific issues which are

Bethesda launcher: This launcher is very buggy and got a lot of bad press during the Fallout 76 launch such as the uninstall button not working. Bethesda also leaking personal information through their customer service ticket system did not help (serious issue with people being able to read other people's tickets).

Epic launcher: The only place to get Epic launcher games is Epic Store itself. This is not the common way things work - you can buy keys for games from various websites but Epic wants to monopolize game distribution and make games available from Epic Games Store only. In addition, buying third party exclusivity instead of making their own games is not giving them good press.

 

[psilocybe]

I don't want to sound rude, but you have lots of answers in the threads we complain.

The main things are:
- Lack of features (lots of features missing compared to Steam)
- Lack of more payment options
- Lack of regional pricing

Features include:
- Mods
- User reviews
- User forums
- Wide range of controller support
- Big picture mode
- Linux support for Windows only games

 

[PrimeBeef]

Most people don't have a problem with multiple launchers, it's Epic's money hatting to keep the games appearing on others store that is pissing people off.

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Especially ones that were already advertised on other stores.

 

[C.Mongler]

I feel like you could search and click on any one of the tens of EGS threads and find your answer to this in a couple clicks.

People, for the most part, don't have a huge issue with different launchers. It can be annoying, depending on how feature-lite the launcher is, but that alone isn't a huge deal for most folks. What people are having issues with, in regards to Epic here, are the business practices behind making their launcher/store successful; i.e. buying up exclusive titles that otherwise would have been available on a variety of storefronts.

 

[blitzblake]

Wait til you start forgetting passwords or which email for which

 

[Patapuf]

Some of them are better than others. Other than the windows store most are at least functional even if they lack features.

The windows store works, but it's unreliable and by far the most unwieldy of all of them.

 

[z1ggy]

What i dont understand its that Era is so progressive and at the same time so anti consumer. Its weird

 

[Alexandros]

Ignoring all the drive-by comments above, I'd say that there are different issues with, say, the Epic launcher and the Bethesda launcher, but because both issues are platform-related people are wrongly lumping them all together.

 

[Deleted member 32374]

Wrong? Few people complain about having multiple launchers but the actual issue many more people have is to do with the EGS and the actions of Epic. That's different.

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That's what this thread is about.

And, I've seen more than a few mentions of people sick of having to use different launchers. Its a small issue (just use shortcuts on the desktop) but people mention it.

 

[Deffers]

I mean, between uPlay, Epic, Origin, Bethesda Launcher, GoG, and Steam (that I know of) the overhead and addition to startup times can be a genuine, if small concern.

Then there's issues of security. Beth Launcher in particular had that atrocious leak with its support system. The more launchers you have to shove your info into, the likelier it is one of those launchers is going to have a major security vulnerability and there's your info out in the wild.

Lastly, the attempts to build walled gardens should always be concerning to the consumer. While there's no big problems as yet on the PC platform, the practice of moneyhatting is zero-sum competition; it contributes nothing to the end-user. If a monopoly is established within an environment where the typical method of competition has nothing to do with adding any further value to the end-user, shady practices are not exactly a leap in organizational culture.

So they're matters of security, convenience, and more abstract questions about the PC games market, in descending order of importance.

 

[Ge0force]

Noone bothers having launchers, people have an issue with Epic Games store because of their anti consumer practices. Simple as that.

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This.

 

[Ryuelli]

They want all their games in one nice little pile in a single window

2-3 windows is like... well it's too horrible to explain

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Good news for them!

 

[SteveWinwood]

this threads gonna go great

 

[Mugen]

Personally I'd prefer all PC games to be executable independent of any launcher. But those days are far gone apart from old games and a handful of newer ones.

 

[Jaded Alyx]

That's what this thread is about.

And, I've seen more than a few mentions of people sick of having to use different launchers. Its a small issue (just use shortcuts on the desktop) but people mention it.

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OP made it sound like having different launchers was the main reason people are upset, which is a common thing people say when they don't understand the actual, main issue, as evidenced by the ignorant drive by posts in this thread. I was trying to clarify that.

 

[Alexandros]

There are two main launcher-related issues. First is Epic's policy of moneyhatting third-party exclusives for its launcher which is mainly a principles and anti-consumer behavior issue. Second is that most of these third-party launchers, including Epic's and Bethesda's, are terrible to use and lack important features so people don't like using them.

 

[Shaolin-Llama]

I mean, I get that it is annoying to have your game library spread across many launchers and the lack of features and other complaints people have been making. But having one company control the whole market has its problems too from an "anti-consumer" perspective.

 

[Harlequin]

Personally, I don't really have a problem with having games spread across different launchers. It's a bit annoying sometimes, having to switch from one to another, but it's not a big deal. So long as the launcher works well, isn't a resource hog and doesn't only supply games in weird-ass formats that limit how I can use them (looking at you, Windows Store), it's all good. It is admittedly nice to see your whole game collection in one library but if that's really important to you, there are websites and apps that let you keep track of your entire game library (including console games) so I've just started using one of those.

 

[Deleted member 50969]

Wrong, but really, its been discussed to death.

OP, you can do some research on this, a lot has been written about why this is an issue.

Long story short: The PC is an open platform and many of us are opposed to any attempt to lock it down and create walled gardens. We've seen it in the past and its always either been shit or gone to shit in short order.

Click to shrink...

An open platform can still have walled gardens.

 

[Solaris]

this threads gonna go great

Click to shrink...

Answer has been posted a bajillion times in all the threads related to Epic

This thread just gives ignorant people a reason to post their bullshit about how it doesn't matter with no consequence

 

[Chairmanchuck (另一个我)]

Pardon my ignorance but it's quite obvious this is a massive issue for a lot of people here. With all the different software launchers for games and exclusivity of titles to them I see people boycotting games altogether.

Why is this ? What am I missing? To me it seems like a non issue.

Explain why you feel it's an issue.

Click to shrink...

Not sure if you are really new to PC-Gaming, but:

Steam:

-I can share the library with my wife or friends.
-I can earn money with just having a game by selling trading cards the game has.
-I can use community guides like Gamefaqs guidesin an Overlay.
-I can play Windows Games on Linux.
-I can easily play my games on my TV with steam BPM.
-I can use whatever controller I want because of Steam controller configs.
-I can use almost every VR headset I want, because Valve supports almost all.
-I can refund easily.
-I can play games in China.
-I can write reviews and read reviews to see if a game is good.
-I can download mods with 1 mouseclick instead of installing some "Mod installer".
-I can stream with one button click.
-I have cloud saves.
-I have achievements.
-I can change my region if I move.

uPlay:

-I can use uPlay points to get 20% off (in Europe).
-I can refund.
-I have cloud saves.
-I have achievements.

Origin:

-I can refund.
-I have achievements.
-EA Access.
-I have cloud saves.
-EA exclusive games

Oculus:

-Oculus exclusive games
-Great VR plattform with home like features, but closed and not open.
-Refunds.

EGS:

-I can refund.
-Free games.
-Regional pricing in some regions Steam and other launchers did not offer.

I mean if you do not care about any of those features, just "clicking" on a different launcher is not a big deal. But to some achievments are important, to others cloud saves, to others the ability to play Windows games on Linux, to others several of these and to some nothing.

People here would have you believe launcher exclusives are equivalent to console exclusives, but they're at no expense to you.

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Yeah. I am sorry I cant play EGS exclusive games, since I am in China. "Fuck you got mine" attitude right here.

 

[Deleted member 32374]

An open platform can still have walled gardens.

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And we can hate the fuck out of those gardens and refuse to do business inside of them.

Without "whining/hurting devs" as is so often claimed.

 

[RionaaM]

I thought admitting to not reading posts and threads was bannable. This OP is exactly that, almost bragging about their ignorance.

 

[Danim]

Answer has been posted a bajillion times in all the threads related to Epic

This thread just gives ignorant people a reason to post their bullshit about how it doesn't matter with no consequence

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Yep, and as usual people have wasted no time in doing just that!

 

[Ryo]

There are first world problems and then there's the multiple launchers "issue".

 

[Deleted member 426]

I mean people could actually try to answer the question in good faith instead of thread whining.

OP. Steam in particular offers features that people like and people like the brand too, so they want to stay with one store wherever possible. That's why many/some people say they're skipping a game even if it's on a Bethesda browser.

However even the most loyal steam fans acknowledge that releasing a game exclusively on your own platform is the prerogative of that company, so no one is getting angry about that.

Epic paying companies to take games off their favourite platform of choice is seen as not playing by the rules. It's a step too far, and it's anti consumer.

TLDR: a mix of brand loyalty, missing features on Epic, and the principals of the individual.

 

[Deleted member 3208]

Don't want to be rude OP, but this topic has been discussed to death. You could have searched other threads before creating this one.

 

[Deleted member 50969]

And we can hate the fuck out of those gardens and refuse to do business inside of them.

Without "whining/hurting devs" as is so often claimed.

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And that's cool, but when threads get turned into EGS hate threads, it not a good look for the ones that hate it.

 

[Deleted member 32374]

There are first world problems and then there's the multiple launchers "issue".

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This is rich.

Era is a first world issue, all of it.

Double for the gaming side.

And that's cool, but when threads get turned into EGS hate threads, it not a good look for the ones that hate it.

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"Not a good look"... Who cares. Certaintly not publishers, not Epic, not the devs of Phoenix Point.

 

[spam musubi]

I mean, I get that it is annoying to have your game library spread across many launchers and the lack of features and other complaints people have been making. But having one company control the whole market has its problems too from an "anti-consumer" perspective.

Click to shrink...

If you are implying that one company is valve, you are incorrect. Is league of legends, perhaps the biggest PC game of all time, on steam? Is Minecraft? Fortnite (even before all this EGS nonsense)? Anything by Blizzard, the most celebrated PC developer of all time? EA, the biggest publisher? And for most major games, don't you have an option to buy them from Origin, Uplay, GOG as well?

 

[kubev]

They want all their games in one nice little pile in a single window

2-3 windows is like... well it's too horrible to explain

Click to shrink...

For me, it's more a matter of having trouble keeping track of which service(s) I own which game(s) on. Then again, I'm also the sort of person who sees a good deal on a game on Steam and is ready to purchase the game, only to realize that I already own it on Steam. (I have over 1,500 games on Steam alone.) It's nice to have all of your games in one place. I'll occasionally purchase games on GOG when they're not available anywhere else, though. It was nice to see SWAT 4 released digitally.

 

[Sean Mirrsen]

There's issues with Epic Games specifically, for the way they treat customers as collateral damage in their fight to enter the PC digital games market.

There's also issues with having multiple different pieces of software that each has its own background processes. Every client must be authenticated online to run its games, and if Epic ever builds up a list of features to actually compete with Steam, the two featuresets are likely to interfere with each other. You can, for instance, launch EGS games through Steam - in which case the Steam overlay (which you may use for controller support), will add to whatever Epic puts into their store's games, and Epic is unlikely to make things easier for Steam owners. Every client also has its own bugs, every storefront must also be trusted with your payment data, etc, etc. All things being equal, people want to stay with one, better storefront, because it presents less security risk, less background system load, and yes, less fuss for launching and updating games.

 

[Kuga]

I mean, I get that it is annoying to have your game library spread across many launchers and the lack of features and other complaints people have been making. But having one company control the whole market has its problems too from an "anti-consumer" perspective.

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Can you explain how Steam, aside from being the dominant PC gaming platform, has unfairly hindered competition and/or harmed consumer choice? And how EGS compares in those regards?

 

[Finale Fireworker]

Different distribution platforms offer different services along with their games. Players accustomed to or reliant on certain features are upset when they lose access to these features. PC as a platform has never contended with exclusivity poaching before and some players find it distasteful. Not every player feels as strongly about it but this is the source of the contention. Hopefully this answers your question.

This thread is now closed.