10 Ways Video Games Keep Pissing Off Fans

9. Publisher-Specific Launchers

Since we’ve already touched on it, let’s talk about publisher-specific launchers. This goes an extra step further than digital storefronts. You know, like Steam, Ubisoft Connect, Epic Games, GOG, Humble Bundle, Microsoft Store, PlayStation Store, EA App, and good god, someone needs to tell these people to stop.

Publisher-specific launchers include the Larian Studios launcher, Battle.net, Rockstar Games launcher, The Sims launcher, the Paradox launcher, the Kalypso launcher, I could go on.

While sometimes these launchers are actually welcome like in the cases where they let you manage mods or DLC that you have installed, they’re mostly just an annoyance. You can mess with your digital storefront of choice to disable the secondary launcher to various degrees of effectiveness but it’s one more step that really shouldn’t be there.

The worst case is when layering these launchers like Larian launching through Steam or Epic launching through Steam, actually causes bugs to happen in your game.

This happened to a handful of people including me where Baldur’s Gate 3 would stutter until you disabled the launcher through Steam’s advanced launch options. Even if everything goes to plan, specific launches for one publisher, one series, and even one game are just an unnecessary hurdle stalling you from playing your games.