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[The_Mike]

Having freedom of choi e where you want to buy and play your games are one of the biggest downsides and the worst version of having a walled Garden according to bitbydeath .

I hate people will hate me for it in here, but after having GP I have solely used Xbox app to install games on my pc.
I know many people are suffering from probelsn with it, but it has just been smooth for me.

I reinstalled my pc a few months ago and wanted to look up a GP game to see people's reviews on it, and found out I haven't even installed Steam lol.

 

[fermcr]

Most stores take 30% of each sale. It's a lot of money.
Everybody wants those 30%.

Epic store only takes 12% (I think).

 

[bitbydeath]

Having freedom of choi e where you want to buy and play your games are one of the biggest downsides and the worst version of having a walled Garden according to bitbydeath .

I hate people will hate me for it in here, but after having GP I have solely used Xbox app to install games on my pc.
I know many people are suffering from probelsn with it, but it has just been smooth for me.

I reinstalled my pc a few months ago and wanted to look up a GP game to see people's reviews on it, and found out I haven't even installed Steam lol.

Why @me?
Every walled garden has that.

 

[Sybrix]

The problem with all these other launchers is they suck and they dont have the time to develop and adapt to become better.

Those of us who used Steam in 2003 will remember how buggy it was and how many issues it had for a good couple of years. But because it had no competitors, it was aloud to develop and grow to what it is today.

To suceed, companies like EA, Epic, Blizzard etc need to release a perfect game launcher with beautiful store fronts, engaging profile pages and in-depth friends and party system....... but they havent so far and doesnt look like they will.

 

[The_Mike]

Why @me?
Every walled garden has that.

Because you say pc is a walled Garden

 

[winjer]

I'm so sick of all the launchers on PC.
Almost every publisher has it's launcher, that requires a new account. And then all of then start with windows by default. And most have a helper service, that also starts with Windows.
It's a freaking mess, of bloatware pushed into our PCs.
And then there is the issue with friends lists on other launchers.
And the lack of features. As most of these launchers only serve for publishers to bypass Steam and gather user information.
At this point, I actively avoid installing other launchers, besides Steam.

 

[Wildebeest]

GOG Galaxy is a game collection manager before being a DRM tool or social media app.

 

[bitbydeath]

Because you say pc is a walled Garden

It is, consoles are also considered as walled gardens too, yet you can buy console games in more places than you can buy PC games.

 

[The_Mike]

It is, consoles are also considered as walled gardens too, yet you can buy console games in more places than you can buy PC games.

Imagine living in a age where someone defends being able to buy a 70euro game in different physical store's vs digital stores that compete selling the game as cheap as possible for you.

By the way, you've proven my point, you can go again

 

[bitbydeath]

Imagine living in a age where someone defends being able to buy a 70euro game in different physical store's vs digital stores that compete selling the game as cheap as possible for you.

By the way, you've proven my point, you can go again.

Why is competing to sell a console game cheaper in retail stores a bad thing?

 

[unintelligent orange]

Key stores are cool, buying games for cheaper prices from sites like CDkeys is always a great boon. I'm talking about launchers here.

Epic games is a shit launcher that buys up shittons of exclusive deals, gives out free games, and has fucking FORTNITE on it, yet it still doesn't fucking come anywhere close to steam in userbase, due to the underbaked interface, bad business practices, and overall just being a waste of space
EA app is so fucking terrible it doesn't even work with its own games (BF1 didn't work at launch, and i had to do hours of troubleshooting just to get the game to run on Origin which is also a terrible launcher)
Xbox app is good for gamepass but shite for everything else, the apps themselves aren't even in EXE and it's overall barebones, slow and unresponsive at times. I've only got it for Minecraft and GP.
Rockstar Launcher literally requires a fucking internet connection to function, I had to downgrade GTA4 in order to be able to play it at all times. It is USELESS, you can't even buy games on it.

All of these launchers have only accomplished one thing, creating an extra barrier between me and my games. Nuisance at best, and genuine hinderance at worst.

If PC had only one launcher, with all games from all other launchers going to it and it only, with 0 DRM, that would be a massive benefit. No other company has demonstrated a good ability to make storefronts and launchers as Valve has. And if anything, that's one reason to go console over PC, none of this launcher shit. The more closed ecosystem forces companies to specifically use Sony's/MS's software which work good enough anyways. This 'competition' hasn't made anything better for PC gamers, it's only become a detriment and a pain in the ass.

Better yet, maybe we should bring physical PC games back and let everyone install everything with no DRM. DRM doesn't do much to prevent piracy anyways, everything gets cracked in the end. Despite that steam games still fly off the damn charts and into space.

these companies u buy games from are businesses. If you own the platform the games are sold on, then you make more profit, because the platform doesnt force you to give them a cut for selling the game on it. If you just sell through steam, valve will take some form of a cut.

it's no wonder why companies do this, since its easy enough to create their own digital store / cdn. but its corporate nonsense to the customer, a huge pain in the ass.

when it comes between them making the extra money with the side effect of annoying you with all these store apps, versus not getting the extra money on every sale, businesses will choose to get paid.
nobody actually cares about the customer, despite what they may tell you.

 

[EdGalTBR]

I agree, competition has no right to exist.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

This is so fucking stupid, you're praising steam, but have no idea how much competition has done for it.
Steam used to be absolute dogshit for a looong time, there's still memes/gifs you can find because people hated it.

It literally wasn't until origin/uplay stepped in that steam started improving rapidly; origin was the first to offer refunds (and to this day has the best refund policy), and both it and uplay allowed you to choose where to install the game and had a bandwidth limiter. Steam had none of those things (and some other things I'm blanking on right now) and it's pre-load system is still fucking dogshit.

The only thing steam currently really has over the others are the social features; I like the profile space and activity log, but the discussion forums are often twitter tier level trash.

 

[rofif]

While the more the better is usually good, I agree on your statement.
Got is great for some old games. Steam great for everything.
And it’s not really monopoly as keys can be obtained on many websites.
Multiple launchers are just annoying. When I see uplay or origin required on steam, I just get console version.
I’ve not created epic account yet and I don’t care for it

 

[rofif]

I agree, competition has no right to exist.

There is no competition having multiple launchers. Competition is on key resellers side and steam don’t give a fuck where you get the key.

 

[Guilty_AI]

There could be 14768 stores and i wouldn't care if THEY JUST LET ME DOWNLOAD THE GAME DIRECTLY.

Well, stores selling Steam/GOG keys are fine too.

 

[Tams]

OP, you need to be over 13 to be on here.

 

[Bonfires Down]

I mean, let’s do a count of what games won’t be available on Steam or GOG after Actiblizz and Ubi come back.

Escape From Tarkov
Tencent shit like LoL and Valorant
Fortnite
World of Warcraft
Genshin Impact
Rocket League
Fall Guys
MTG Arena
GTA Trilogy
Like a handful of Epic exclusives

We really gonna be upset over that? Did I forget something?

Granted, I assume Blizzard games will also be on Steam and I guess that’s not guaranteed.

 

[Skifi28]

I mean, let’s do a count of what games won’t be available on Steam or GOG after Actiblizz and Ubi come back.

Escape From Tarkov
Tencent shit like LoL and Valorant
Fortnite
Genshin Impact
Rocket League
Fall Guys
MTG Arena
GTA Trilogy
Like a handful of Epic exclusives

We really gonna be upset over that? Did I forget something?

Granted, I assume Blizzard games will also be on Steam and I guess that’s not guaranteed.

I'm probably more annoyed by double launchers than something not being on steam. Do I really need to launch a launcher so I can launch another launcher than launches the game?

 

[Dr.D00p]

I agree, competition has no right to exist.

How can it be competition when buying it on Steam still requires you to fire up another game launcher like Origin or Ubisoft Connect?

What is the fucking point of it...

 

[Goalus]

I’ve not created epic account yet and I don’t care for it

My Epic account (3 games as of this week) is slowly but steadily catching up on my Steam account (6 games as of this week, account created in 2010).

Epic will soon be my preferred launcher next to the MS Store.

 

[bbeach123]

Steam isnt just a game launcher , its a community . I didnt just playing/buying game there , I join discussion ,report bugs , talk with the dev ,read reviews , checking mods from workshop , Money laundering with steam market /s .

 

[Bonsaibäumchen]

PC launchers who don't include an Xbox version for a bought game have no right to exist.

Steam has only accomplished one thing, creating an extra barrier between me and my games. Nuisance at best, and genuine hinderance at worst. Luckily more and more games appear in the MS Store nowadays thanks to Game Pass.

 

[Goalus]

Well.
Judging by this reaction, I am sure that anything you might say regarding this topic will absolutely crush the range of dumbness that I am used to.

 

[64bitmodels]

While the more the better is usually good, I agree on your statement.
Got is great for some old games. Steam great for everything.
And it’s not really monopoly as keys can be obtained on many websites.
Multiple launchers are just annoying. When I see uplay or origin required on steam, I just get console version.
I’ve not created epic account yet and I don’t care for it

Maybe my sentiment will change whenever some new, amazing launcher comes out by a company who actually understands what makes steam so good, and then i'll encourage 'competition'
but until then, i feel like all of those other launchers are very unnessacary. Steam has always worked. It doesn't have many flaws besides the DRM. If these companies are having such a hard time following a 20 year old blueprint i don't know what else to tell them

The only thing steam currently really has over the others are the social features

and workshop which makes installing mods easy as pie (VERY useful)
and integration with the steam deck...
and trading/market features for games like CSGO and TF2...
and a chatting feature which is easier to access than discord for quick conversations while you're in a game....
and the guarantee that if you buy an official valve title it will fucking work with the launcher you installed it on... (cough cough EA play cough cough)

 

[Trazyn the Infinite]

Maybe my sentiment will change whenever some new, amazing launcher comes out by a company who actually understands what makes steam so good, and then i'll encourage 'competition'
but until then, i feel like all of those other launchers are very unnessacary. Steam has always worked. It doesn't have many flaws besides the DRM. If these companies are having such a hard time following a 20 year old blueprint i don't know what else to tell them



and workshop which makes installing mods easy as pie (VERY useful)
and integration with the steam deck...
and trading/market features for games like CSGO and TF2...
and a chatting feature which is easier to access than discord for quick conversations while you're in a game....
and the guarantee that if you buy an official valve title it will fucking work with the launcher you installed it on... (cough cough EA play cough cough)

I wish Steam would remember what made it great. Personally I really dislike the platform these days. The only thing it has going for it for me is the sales - otherwise I would never touch it.

Its UI is abyssmal. It lacks consistency across the board and can’t pick a particular style it wants to be. There is a lack of relevant information in the games section where you are often filled to bloat with pointless additions like Cards, Emblems, discussions (which either have overly restricitive/borderline abusive moderation like Era/Reddit, or zero moderation and is completely dead), screenshots, a “mod” download spot (which is useless in general as almost any worthwhile mod is available on NexusMods as it has been for over a decade now). Now they added ugly as sin customization options which further muddle any design sense this service once had and points to buy random things for your profile which is also incredibly bloated and poorly designed. Nothing flows well.

I just want a very clean and organized storefront, DRM free games, a quick in-game chat/voice chat feature via an overlay, and that is all that is needed. Hell, even the last two you dont need since everyone and their mother just uses Discord anyway, which has an overlay feature.

 

[64bitmodels]

There is a lack of relevant information in the games section where you are often filled to bloat with pointless additions like Cards, Emblems, discussions

this thing gets me, what information are you looking for? achievements? system requirements? DLC?
the discussions forum has a ton o guides for the game which is VERY useful for when you don't want to go to fucking IGN or some shit to learn about the game you're playing
i don't really share any of the other criticisms you mention but this one is odd to me.

 

[Bonsaibäumchen]

Well.
Judging by this reaction, I am sure that anything you might say regarding this topic will absolutely crush the range of dumbness that I am used to.

Whats the difference between steam, the windows store or the xbox app.

All do the same thing you can purchase download and update your games with it.

The are all operating on the same layer.

 

[winjer]

Whats the difference between steam, the windows store or the xbox app.

All do the same thing you can purchase download and update your games with it.

The are all operating on the same layer.

Steam works well enough. The Xbox App is a broken piece of crap, to this day, still riddle with bugs.

 

[Bonsaibäumchen]

Steam works well enough. The Xbox App is a broken piece of crap, to this day, still riddle with bugs.

I agree on that opinion. But I was discussing something else:

PC launchers who don't include an Xbox version for a bought game have no right to exist.

Steam has only accomplished one thing, creating an extra barrier between me and my games. Nuisance at best, and genuine hinderance at worst. Luckily more and more games appear in the MS Store nowadays thanks to Game Pass.

 

[Bonfires Down]

PC launchers who don't include an Xbox version for a bought game have no right to exist.

Steam has only accomplished one thing, creating an extra barrier between me and my games. Nuisance at best, and genuine hinderance at worst. Luckily more and more games appear in the MS Store nowadays thanks to Game Pass.

I have to agree that being able to take your games along whether you want to play on PC or on consoles is a very significant perk. Unfortunately it seems that only some games are cross-buy even on the Microsoft Store.

Steam is definitely superior in funcionality over the Xbox App, but at least I consider it functional now.

 

[Gudji]

Epic is the best store. It’s games are free haha

 

[rodrigolfp]

And if anything, that's one reason to go console over PC, none of this launcher shit.

I have almost zero problems with launchers (only MS Store that I need to take ownership of some folders). No console can be a substitute for my gaming library with all the freedom on pc.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

and workshop which makes installing mods easy as pie (VERY useful)
and integration with the steam deck...
and trading/market features for games like CSGO and TF2...

These are basically nothing and niche.
Workshop is cool, but you have to be into modding in the first place and the game also needs to support it.
Integration with steam deck? If the steam deck didn't run steam that would hilarious; also requires owning a steam deck in the first place (if you think steam deck isn't super niche you're delusional)
marketplace might as well not exist for me.

and a chatting feature which is easier to access than discord for quick conversations while you're in a game....

Uhh, origin/uplay have had chatting forever.

and the guarantee that if you buy an official valve title it will fucking work with the launcher you installed it on... (cough cough EA play cough cough)

Haven't had any issues, but I remember when EA app launched, it was beta and they recommended you keep origin as well, mainly because of missing titles in the library, but the games that were there had no issue launching on EA.

 

[MikeM]

The only launchers that should exist:
- steam
- xbox
- PS
- Nintendo

True masterrace would then be achieved.

 

[64bitmodels]

Workshop is cool, but you have to be into modding in the first place and the game also needs to support it.

as if that literally isnt a gigantic portion of the PC userbase??? there's literally garrys mod which is just a gigantic sandbox to put all of your source mods in and that game has had 20 million sales.

 

[Laptop1991]

Totally agree, you didn't need any launcher at one time, Steam and GoG are the best, I'm glad Bethesda ditched theirs, it awful, and i won't use 2 for 1 game either, you shouldn't need more than 1 anyway.

 

[Trazyn the Infinite]

this thing gets me, what information are you looking for? achievements? system requirements? DLC?
the discussions forum has a ton o guides for the game which is VERY useful for when you don't want to go to fucking IGN or some shit to learn about the game you're playing
i don't really share any of the other criticisms you mention but this one is odd to me.

It heavily depends on the game in question. I don’t need achievements, system requirements is a must have, notable DLC is great - these are not issues I have. I don’t even have a real issue with discussions if they were… more consistent? One game will be packed to discussions, another will be silent aside form the dick suckers who praise the game and don’t let any criticism less you be banned, another may be completely and utterly dead aside from a few russian posts.

Guides is seperate from Discussions and I do love the guides. I just want a better designed UI/menu. That is my biggest issue. It feels bloated with how it is designed right now. In-game via overlay it is better, but it still brings you to a website which doesn’t have the same consistency as something like GAF does designwise.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

as if that literally isnt a gigantic portion of the PC userbase??? there's literally garrys mod which is just a gigantic sandbox to put all of your source mods in and that game has had 20 million sales.

You're heavily overestimating how many people are actively modding their games, there's so much drm/anti-tamper/online checks in most game that you can't even mod them if you tried, the ones that do specifically have support for it in some way.

 

[Fuz]

but i agree with you a closed eco system with one launcher would be dope

ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?​

 

[rodrigolfp]

as if that literally isnt a gigantic portion of the PC userbase???

Yes, and we use nexus, not potato workshop.

 

[Fuz]

The only good launcher is no launcher.

 

[Celcius]

Diversification is a good thing OP. Imagine if someday Valve goes out of business or if Gabe N does something crazy and everyone starts boycotting Steam. Having games in more than one place and Steam having competition is a good thing.

 

[Magic Carpet]

The only good launcher is no launcher.

Yearning for the days of lost save games and updates you have to search and apply.

 

[Generic]

It can exist but Epic should fuck off with the exclusivity bullshit.

Number of exclusives on Epic: 20
Number of exclusives on Steam: 2000

 

[Celcius]

Number of exclusives on Epic: 20
Number of exclusives on Steam: 2000

That’s not what he’s talking about. It’s the fact that Epic goes out of their way to pay companies to only put their game on the epic game store for like a year. So usually many PC gamers have to wait a year for it to come to pc from console, and THEN have to wait another year if they want to buy it on any pc store other than epic.

 

[Fuz]

Steam has only accomplished one thing, creating an extra barrier between me and my games. Nuisance at best, and genuine hinderance at worst. Luckily more and more games appear in the MS Store nowadays thanks to Game Pass.

You were going so well until you started sucking gamepass' dick.

 

[alabtrosMyster]

Just who will enforce this?

I completely agree, but Epic gives me free games on a weekly basis... So I have Epic and steam, no GoG launcher (I bought some games on GoG, but I just keep the installers, no need for the launcher).

So many games will be unplayable in the future, just like those that depend on games for windows live, these things should burn in hell.

Even MS should not sell games on their store.

 

[Generic]

That’s not what he’s talking about. It’s the fact that Epic goes out of their way to pay companies to only put their game on the epic game store for like a year. So usually many PC gamers have to wait a year for it to come to pc from console, and THEN have to wait another year if they want to buy it on any pc store other than epic.

Lots of developers release their games exclusively on Steam forever, so many PC gamers have no choice but to buy the game there.

 

[Kokoloko85]

Epic has a right. They actually make an engine and games.
Everyone else has a right too. PC Launch wars are just for Valve/Steam fanboys and its pretty pathetic. They’ve done nothing to say the PC market belongs to them only