Choice of the publishers.

Because you're using Steam with another publisher's game. If you only want a first-party launcher, buy from the publisher's store.

its not necessary, your assertion is correct, most use it for ads, or to skirt steams cut in money.

or forcing sign-ups, as some have log-ins for an "account", which is simply to pad numbers, its ridiculous.

not to mention, siphon your "data", be it their launcher, or accounts for sites, of which they sell/trade/etc.. and in some cases, they say they cant even guarantee, the safety of your data, which is again ridiculous.

then you have some, who come back to games that werent updated in years, to shove them into the game, breaking them and leaving them broken, to force people into buying their new games, which causes complaints, but also forces the community or users of said community, to then have to come to the aid of the community and make guides to bypassing these garbage launchers, either to simply not have to use them, or fix games so the community can play the games they bought.

then years later after everyone complains and the "launcher" causes many issues, they decide to finally retire it, which sadly in some cases, again breaks the game again... while they leave their "digital trash" (ie.. left over files), in your game(s) folders.

side note: wish devs would start using specified folders in same areas, so game saves arent sprinkled all over your file system, its so annoying and a hassle (yes, thats an irrelevant rant that came to mind...).

happens time and time again, its a repeating loop, that always fails.

in the end, majority doesnt want 3rd party launchers, they only serve to force ads, force account sign-ups, skirt cuts in money to steam and in most cases, simply cause issues with the games they are "running".

steam should be the only "launcher" we need, the only "account" we need, nothing else beyond that.

noting: most very much dislike, having to have all these extra accounts and passwords, that are useless and have zero to do with the game(s), its a waste of time and slows down the process of playing games without hassle, so we can enjoy our experience and have fun.

anything beyond steam, is 3rd party.

have a nice day

Probably to farm data off customers.

Originally posted by Microsoft Word:

Why is that necessary?

People love Steam.

Oh you mean you think if the product owners for a game have a launcher for their game, they're the third party? No. Not quite.

There's nothing so special about Steam where product owners can't have their own launchers/stores. Even Valve doesn't think so. But sometimes users don't seem to understand...

Originally posted by Microsoft Word:

Why is that necessary?

These publishers basically use Steam as a shop and download platform, but want to keep the game on their platform. So, they keep their own DRM in the game that they sell on Steam.

whats with all the "go" spam....

edit: all gone

have a nice day peeps

Something related to QoL, as was once told when one was added. Granted, considering the source of that reasoning, I'd take it with a grain of salt (the size of a mountain).

Originally posted by Lystent:

Something related to QoL, as was once told when one was added. Granted, considering the source of that reasoning, I'd take it with a grain of salt (the size of a mountain).

Because they are selling their games through various shop and a launcher allows for a unified patching process.
Else you'd have to upload every bloody hotfix to each store, and worst case have to go through some approval process.

An account allows for cross-platform progression/matchmaking and DRM (i.e. buy the base game at Steam, DLC at Microsoft store, claim some free stuff via the publishers own store -> have it available everywhere).
(Copied from https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/discussions/forum/0/601908674063081463/#c601908674063082489 ; really thought some mod deleted my post for a moment x))

Originally posted by MonkehMaster:

its not necessary, your assertion is correct, most use it for ads, or to skirt steams cut in money.

or forcing sign-ups, as some have log-ins for an "account", which is simply to pad numbers, its ridiculous.

not to mention, siphon your "data", be it their launcher, or accounts for sites, of which they sell/trade/etc.. and in some cases, they say they cant even guarantee, the safety of your data, which is again ridiculous.

then you have some, who come back to games that werent updated in years, to shove them into the game, breaking them and leaving them broken, to force people into buying their new games, which causes complaints, but also forces the community or users of said community, to then have to come to the aid of the community and make guides to bypassing these garbage launchers, either to simply not have to use them, or fix games so the community can play the games they bought.

then years later after everyone complains and the "launcher" causes many issues, they decide to finally retire it, which sadly in some cases, again breaks the game again... while they leave their "digital trash" (ie.. left over files), in your game(s) folders.

side note: wish devs would start using specified folders in same areas, so game saves arent sprinkled all over your file system, its so annoying and a hassle (yes, thats an irrelevant rant that came to mind...).

happens time and time again, its a repeating loop, that always fails.

in the end, majority doesnt want 3rd party launchers, they only serve to force ads, force account sign-ups, skirt cuts in money to steam and in most cases, simply cause issues with the games they are "running".

steam should be the only "launcher" we need, the only "account" we need, nothing else beyond that.

noting: most very much dislike, having to have all these extra accounts and passwords, that are useless and have zero to do with the game(s), its a waste of time and slows down the process of playing games without hassle, so we can enjoy our experience and have fun.

anything beyond steam, is 3rd party.

have a nice day :gk_smile:

Lol yeah we all want to support the monopoly
Besides, steam is the 3rd party

ofc we dont, want to support monopolies... that has nothing to do with crappy third party launchers, as outlined in the comment you quoted, assuming you read the whole thing.

steam is first party, the customer is second party, third party is devs and their games.

fyi, go look at storepages, tell me again, that devs dont list "thirdparty" software, sign-ups, etc.. on said storepages.

yup

have a nice day

Originally posted by cinedine:

...An account allows for cross-platform progression/matchmaking and DRM (i.e. buy the base game at Steam, DLC at Microsoft store, claim some free stuff via the publishers own store -> have it available everywhere). ...

TBH, with how I lost an otherwise perfectly fine license because the people I was referencing dropped their own stuff, I'd hate to see another of my licenses migrated from steam to their newer stuff (which they probably have already dropped by now, as well; sounds like they backtracked 2 years later via removing the launcher, which doesn't bode well for the launcher itself).

its not.

it was never necessary and its to farm information. the simple truth is 99% of what these companies do is unnecessary,

most of the wink wink wink necessary stuff not only is it not necessary its a result of the systemic fraud happening in society.

Originally posted by Lystent:

Originally posted by cinedine:

...An account allows for cross-platform progression/matchmaking and DRM (i.e. buy the base game at Steam, DLC at Microsoft store, claim some free stuff via the publishers own store -> have it available everywhere). ...

TBH, with how I lost an otherwise perfectly fine license because the people I was referencing dropped their own stuff, I'd hate to see another of my licenses migrated from steam to their newer stuff (which they probably have already dropped by now, as well; sounds like they backtracked 2 years later via removing the launcher, which doesn't bode well for the launcher itself).

or they do what ea did with dragon age orgins and dragon age 2. they take it off the store to force a renewal and add ♥♥♥♥ like a third part launcher that didnt exist and wasn't necessary.

reminds me slightly of 2k/fraxis, when they came back after 5+ years, to throw their garbage launcher into civ 5, broke the game and left it broken (launcher was only added, to serve up civ 6 and their youtube ads), all to "try" forcing customers to go buy civ 6, instead of playing civ 5.

the community, or specifically, members of it, had to come up with solutions to fix it, some were very in depth and needed lots of stuff to be done, though there was a few, that provided easy fixes with simply launch commands, to bypass it and run the game without it.

needless to say, years after, they retired it because no one liked it and it was a buggy mess, which caused issue, not only with civ 5, but also with civ 6....

now they have civ 7 and the game has horrible design decisions, basically moving away from what made the civ franchise great, needless to say, its gotten lots of complaints.

have a nice day peeps

Originally posted by MonkehMaster:

reminds me slightly of 2k/fraxis, when they came back after 5+ years, to throw their garbage launcher into civ 5, broke the game and left it broken (launcher was only added, to serve up civ 6 and their youtube ads), all to "try" forcing customers to go buy civ 6, instead of playing civ 5.

the community, or specifically, members of it, had to come up with solutions to fix it, some were very in depth and needed lots of stuff to be done, though there was a few, that provided easy fixes with simply launch commands, to bypass it and run the game without it.

needless to say, years after, they retired it because no one liked it and it was a buggy mess, which caused issue, not only with civ 5, but also with civ 6....

now they have civ 7 and the game has horrible design decisions, basically moving away from what made the civ franchise great, needless to say, its gotten lots of complaints.

have a nice day peeps :gk_smile:

So it wasn't just with Bioshock..:
https://steamhost.cn/news/app/409710/view/3328744607303084157?l=english