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from LL_RRoD
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I thought the launcher wars died years ago. People still buy pc games outside of Steam / grey market keys?
Yes and no.
Yes, Steam dominates. Steam is the only launcher that any significant number of people actually like.
(Well, GOG Galaxy is liked by some as well, but for totally different reasons -- it's inferior to Steam feature-wise, but it installs DRM-free games (mostly; some games[gog.com] arguably do have DRM), which people do like.)
But other launchers do still exist -- EA, Battlenet, Epic, Rockstar, uPlay, itch.io, etc. They can't compete with Steam on features or install base and they don't really offer anything *new* that Steam doesn't already offer, but they still exist, mostly because of exclusives, deep discounts and giveaways.
And in fact, many of the other launchers sell games on Steam, so you buy the game on Steam but then that starts uPlay (for example) and that way they are even getting their launcher installed on the systems of die-hard Steam fans.
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May 14, 2026 8:49 PM
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May 14, 2026 8:56 PM
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Lol thanks for that detailed comment, unlike mr. useless reply up there.
I've tried other launchers and own a few of titles in each and they all end up being rebought so I have them on steam.
Love or hate steam but their ecosystem just works. Meanwhile these dozens of single publisher launchers ends up collecting more dust than the seasonal game sales steam has that I'll never play.
So you're saying you don't bother with weekly (or more) free games on Epic that they have been doing for years? That's enough reason to keep the Epic launcher, and I've never bought ONE thing on Epic.
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Yes, Steam dominates. Steam is the only launcher that any significant number of people actually like.
(Well, GOG Galaxy is liked by some as well, but for totally different reasons -- it's inferior to Steam feature-wise, but it installs DRM-free games (mostly; some games [gog.com] arguably do have DRM), which people do like.)
But other launchers do still exist -- EA, Battlenet, Epic, Rockstar, uPlay, itch.io, etc. They can't compete with Steam on features or install base and they don't really offer anything *new* that Steam doesn't already offer, but they still exist, mostly because of exclusives, deep discounts and giveaways.
And in fact, many of the other launchers sell games on Steam, so you buy the game on Steam but then that starts uPlay (for example) and that way they are even getting their launcher installed on the systems of die-hard Steam fans.
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I've tried other launchers and own a few of titles in each and they all end up being rebought so I have them on steam.
Love or hate steam but their ecosystem just works. Meanwhile these dozens of single publisher launchers ends up collecting more dust than the seasonal game sales steam has that I'll never play.
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Share your experience with the Slickdeals community
Share information with the community. Please follow our Community Guidelines and be kind!