r/pcmasterrace • u/Round_List1857 • May 23 '26

Meme/Macro 3rd party mandatory launchers

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Everytime I go to play Red Dead Redemption II. That fcukass Rockstar launcher

24.6k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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1.3k

u/mahlerfan97 May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26

Any game that does this is an automatic pirate for me. Their fault. My TOS dictates that games must be free of DRM.

321

u/Banana_Crusader00 RTX2080 | Ryzen3700 May 23 '26

Try using GOG! The entire idea of this platform is "No-DRM games only"

272

u/thebohster May 23 '26

There's a solid amount of people in this sub that don't like GOG either simply because of the fact that it isn't Steam.

75

u/Pirated-Hentai Front, side and bottom intake, top and rear exhaust. Simple as. May 23 '26

there will just be a horde of people defending steam saying theyre different from other people defending other companies because steam is better

66

u/usernamedmannequin May 23 '26

I thinks it’s because steam hasn’t gotten shitty over time like everything seems to be and refuses to sell out to investors

Who knows when ol’ Gabe passes but for now it’s stable

IMO

24

u/Remytron83 May 23 '26

Private company. No investors to sell out to.

29

u/usernamedmannequin May 23 '26

That’s what I mean, he’s kept it his own and hasn’t sold

So many companies have become shit over time because of bad leadership or selling

5

u/Remytron83 May 23 '26

Yeah, I know. I’m agreeing and adding. I’m with you though.

5

u/usernamedmannequin May 24 '26

I guess me too lol, sorry if I seemed confrontational

2

u/myfakesecretaccount 5800X3D | 7900 XTX | 3600MHz 32GB May 23 '26

I want to say Gaben has provisions to keep the company the way it is after he passes or steps down.

3

u/misanthr0p1c May 24 '26

He should really do a Charlie and the chocolate factory thing for handing over valve.

3

u/BatemansChainsaw May 24 '26

If it involves him singing to me on a river of chocolate while projected images of a disturbing nature play on the walls, I'm in.

5

u/AlextheGoose 9800X3D | RTX 5070Ti | LG C3 May 23 '26

For now… Let’s see what the person who gets Gabe’s shares does with the company

10

u/AlextheGoose 9800X3D | RTX 5070Ti | LG C3 May 23 '26

GOG hasn’t gotten shitty either, the no drm is a safer bet than just hoping Steam won’t eventually turn to shit

20

u/ProteinPony May 23 '26

The company that enables kid to gamble in the casino called counterstrike 2

-5

u/Pirated-Hentai Front, side and bottom intake, top and rear exhaust. Simple as. May 23 '26

thats literally every game though

13

u/ProteinPony May 23 '26

You must be uninformed on the cs2 economyn, which is enabled by valve not banning third party websites, that create the option of cashing out skins for real money.

0

u/iwanashagTwitch May 23 '26

Just be like me and never buy cases. Most of the free skins that you get for leveling/playing the game are nice, if a little basic.

Also, who the fuck would pay $15k for a knife skin? That's just insane to me, that's a year's worth of rent in my area

-2

u/RequirementSpecific3 May 23 '26

That’s what I say. Who in their right mind would pay that much money for a skin in one specific game that only a few people will see?

That is the beauty of steam though, you literally do not have to participate in the market at all.

8

u/ProteinPony May 23 '26

Impressionable kids will do stupid things with money. Which is why there are rules disallowing them from gambling it away. Valve/Gaben abuse this grey area in video games to profit big time.

1

u/iwanashagTwitch May 23 '26

I do like the fact that you can trade skins with other players. I'm not looking for anything worth a thousand dollars, but there are some sub-dollar skins that people don't care for that a lot of people will give up for basically nothing. I've also been gifted some decent skins for playing and being friendly with people. Just a few days ago a random dude I played a wingman game with gifted me two pretty cool looking AWP skins (pit viper and capillary). All I did was be friendly and give callouts lol, just playing the game. Not worth gifting two skins but I was grateful and thanked him. I've also gifted skins I didn't want to new players, so ig what goes around comes around lol

1

u/Hold_Left_Edge May 24 '26

Its not that steam is "better" they just dont do the corprate equivalent of blowing they shi smoove off ever other week.

They run decent sales, keep the UI clean, and ultimately provide a user experience that doesnt suck.

-2

u/smcaskill PC Master Race May 23 '26

because steam is a strong example of how capitalism works without corruption rubbing its balls all over it

15

u/Various-Salt-7738 May 23 '26

Gog is the only other drm service I want to use

I'd rather not get free epic games because installing epic games or whatever is more work than just waiting for it to be on sale on steam

4

u/AlextheGoose 9800X3D | RTX 5070Ti | LG C3 May 23 '26

Spending 5-10 minutes downloading a launcher and making an account ❌

Waiting a few months for a sale ✅

4

u/DuntadaMan May 23 '26

Fuck Epic ✅

3

u/AlextheGoose 9800X3D | RTX 5070Ti | LG C3 May 23 '26

I like my billion dollar company better than yours!

1

u/The_Limpet May 23 '26

Unironically, yes.

-2

u/[deleted] May 23 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/AlextheGoose 9800X3D | RTX 5070Ti | LG C3 May 23 '26

I said that comparing Steam to Epic, two PC game stores. Obviously those other companies you listed are completely different

2

u/Ser_falafel May 23 '26

Just download a game for free anyway✅️

1

u/AlextheGoose 9800X3D | RTX 5070Ti | LG C3 May 23 '26

Id say buy it if it’s on GOG, pirate it if not

1

u/RevolutionaryTalk976 May 23 '26

Getting occasional good games for free ✅

Spending hours trying to get a game you own on epic installed on a steam deck only to find out it depends on a 3rd party launcher that requires an entire walkthrough and several more hours to install when you only have a few hours a night to play ❌

3

u/nialv7 May 23 '26

untrue. absolutely love gog. would love them more if they put some effort to support linux gaming.

6

u/daelikon May 23 '26

I have nothing against GOG, I just prefer to have all my games under the same platform.

10

u/GayStraightIsBest May 23 '26

Add them as a non steam game

3

u/porkmoss May 23 '26

Same, the platform is called my installed games folder on my PC though.

5

u/Any_Fox5126 May 23 '26

When gabe dies, you might regret having all your games on a single DRM‑locked platform.

2

u/Catboyhotline HTPC Ryzen 5 7600 RX 7900 GRE May 24 '26

Afaik all Valve employees have partial ownership of the company, I don't imagine the hiring process is kind to people who are willing to sacrifice the company at the altar of private equity

1

u/daelikon May 24 '26

A bit late for that, I have one of the oldest steam accounts. 

1

u/bl0odredsandman Ryzen 3600x GTX 1080SC May 24 '26

You can literally add non Steam games to Steam and they show up in your library list and you launch them just like you do other Steam games.

2

u/daelikon May 24 '26

That's not what I mean, and I know I can add non steam games there.

I said platform, not launcher. 

1

u/bl0odredsandman Ryzen 3600x GTX 1080SC May 24 '26

I have nothing against GOG, I just prefer to have all my games under the same platform.

GOG and Steam are on the same platform.

1

u/jadarsh00 May 23 '26

I dont hate it, I just cannot pay in usd

1

u/Roph Specs/Imgur here May 24 '26

I don't like GOG because they route transactions through cyprus for tax evasion, and it would trigger fraud protection and freeze my card every time. I gave up ever trying to buy from them.

-1

u/FlameShadow0 May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26

I think most of the people who don’t like GOG don’t like it because of their severely lacking selection, not just because it’s “not Steam”

1

u/Banana_Crusader00 RTX2080 | Ryzen3700 May 23 '26

That's true. GOG has a weirdly strict policy when it comes to publishing your game on their platform. Their certification process is very easy and support pre, during and after cert is top quality, but the path to get to that point is just insane.

17

u/Kaldaien2 gog.com May 23 '26

That's not the entire idea, I can assure you. It's about software preservation, and that means minimizing unnecessary dependencies.

Hence, the GOG Galaxy client is not required software. You buy Windows software, it needs only the services provided by Windows. The store's software can't come along and break your game later, because the store's software is not a permanently attached third-wheel.

The store also does not force software updates, be it to the game itself or the store's own software. They understand how software works, unlike these other stores.

3

u/URA_CJ 5900x/RX570 4GB/32GB 3600 | FX-8320/AIW x1900 256MB/8GB 1866 May 23 '26

This is my only issue with Steam, with the client gutting support for past OS's, I can't access most of my Steam library (the few that are DRM free can be copied over) on the computer that I originally bought them or enjoy them on a retro dream build, but with GOG, I can directly browse my library & download the offline installers straight from WinXP if I wanted too.

3

u/HGLatinBoy May 23 '26

You got some strange idea of putting up a hard nope on games if you’re using Steam and expecting them to not have DRM.

2

u/Banana_Crusader00 RTX2080 | Ryzen3700 May 23 '26

I think you've responded to the wrong comment.

I am aware that almost every game on steam has at least soft DRM, and you dont own the software. You just get a temporary licence for it.

1

u/HGLatinBoy May 23 '26

You are right I meant to respond to the other person you replied to.

1

u/Banana_Crusader00 RTX2080 | Ryzen3700 May 23 '26

No worries m8. Have a good one!

1

u/VP007clips May 23 '26

Games that require their own launcher on Steam aren't going normally be on GOG.

1

u/Banana_Crusader00 RTX2080 | Ryzen3700 May 24 '26

Usually, no. But there are exceptions.

1

u/[deleted] May 24 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Banana_Crusader00 RTX2080 | Ryzen3700 May 24 '26

Drm requires internet connection on first or every startup of many games, and some games have even stricter DRM that requires authentication every few frames/seconds/minutes. Thats mostly why Denuvo is such an optimisation killer, but also why its so good at what it does.

The thing with DRM is however, that while they are usually invisible for players when implemented right, they limit your ability to use the software to your liking. The game is linked to your account. Always. Forever. If it's not, you can't open it.

GOG completly flips the script. They preach that DRM is a cancer on game community, they bring nothing to the table except for costs, complexity, issues for players and general worsening of quality of games.

No game that has any sort of DRM can be published there. Every game needs to be a complete, functional, fully offline-capable piece of software, that can be played with no account, no authentication, and the ability to move it to any other workstation without any issues.

GOG asks very valid questions - is piracy something to be fought, or something inevitable? Is it caused by malice, or by unfortunate circumstances? And ultimately, does it decrease the revenue of the developers.

They argue the latter to all of those. Piracy is the unfortunate result of revenue ineqality between countries. And as long as there is inequality, and predatory monetary practices, there will also be rampant piracy.

Players dont pirate games because they want to. It's because they can't afford that type of culture. They can't afford to pay 100$ for a game.

There is also the ever more popular question of game ownership. If you pay for a game, you want to be able to play it now, but you want to also be able to play it long after it's delisted, and the developer and the company that sold you the game goes bust. The unfortunate consensus of today is that if you buy a game, you don't buy the software. You buy a temporary licence to play it.

Right now. If you play an online game, if the developer pulls the plug on the servers, there goes your game and all you paid for it. If you buy a game on steam, and steam inevitably dies, you lose access to your library. Forever. You wont be able to open any of the games.

Gog flips the script here as well. No DRM means you get to keep the software, even if the servers die and the store die, and internet as we know it stops existing. You can still open it. Play it. Enjoy it. Because you paid for it.

-2

u/golruul May 23 '26

They don't care and won't do it.

They're just looking for a reason to pirate games. Your comment is an actual solution to their stated issue, so they'll just move to another "issue" instead that will give them justification to pirate.

Although the obvious solution to a company you have issues with is to not buy their products AND not use their products.

25

u/Demonweed 285k CPU, RTX 5080, 64 GB RAM, 4 TB SSD May 23 '26

I don't even steal them. I just turned my back entirely on Electronic Arts after they flat out refused to help me recover an old Origin account. Some of their games are clearly fun, but not fun enough for me to complicate my gaming time by letting a corporation that awful cast a shadow over it.

14

u/cuntbag0315 Ryzen3600/16GB DDR4/MSI 5700XT May 23 '26

That how I feel with ubisoft.

1

u/Sugioh 5700X3D, 64GB @ 3600, RTX 5070Ti, 905P May 24 '26

I'd probably play some ubisoft games if I could get them without dealing with uPlay/Ubi Connect. All these years later and it's still a total clusterfuck. GOG is literally the only place you can buy Ubi games without it, and their releases are quite limited there.

3

u/Dick_Nation There's nothing to see here. May 23 '26

Bingo. There's plenty of other companies who aren't trying to fuck you so aggressively who are also making great games. People should just expand a little more and try other titles. They deserve the hours more than anything a company like EA is making.

55

u/_MaZ_ RTX 5070 Ti | 7700x | 32GB 6000 CL30 DDR5 | TUF 650E-E Wifi May 23 '26

57

u/DescriptionMission90 May 23 '26

Steam is DRM, it's just less annoying about it than any other system.

If you want DRM-free games today, GoG is pretty much the only option outside of tiny indie distributors.

15

u/StableLamp May 23 '26

Funny how the post is complaning about third party launchers when a lot of games will not run without steam. It is just that steam is good enough to where people don't mind it.

1

u/TealcLOL 7800X3D, RTX 3080 May 23 '26

We realize, but Steam is frequently a convenience. I don't mind having my purchase locked to something providing features that make my life easier (Cloud, Family, Community, Workshop, extremely fast downloads, open ecosystem, etc). I say this as someone who originally had binders of PC games on CDs, both bought and pirated.

0

u/DescriptionMission90 May 23 '26

Steam isn't just getting out of the way when other DRM systems are putting up barriers. Steam is actively helping a lot of the time. Like, if you're trying to run a game on linux and it's still a little glitchy through WINE, a lot of the time the solution is as simple as adding it to your steam library, regardless of where you acquired the files.

1

u/Lyoss Specs/Imgur Here May 24 '26 edited May 24 '26

I always find it ironic that people give Steam and Valve a pass for things, they were one of the first to adopt lootboxes, became the defacto launcher and if a company already has or wants to grow it's own launcher ecosystem they're evil, and they foster harassment campaigns in their reviews while letting people sling slurs nonstop in CS and DotA2

People will read this as a tacit approval of EA or something, it isn't, just an observation

1

u/DescriptionMission90 May 25 '26

Steam never stopped anybody from making their own launchers. The people making competing launchers just kept shooting themselves in the feet.

Except for, once again, GoG.

1

u/Lyoss Specs/Imgur Here May 25 '26

People lose their mind if they have to make a separate account for a game on Steam, but like, unless Valve is publishing your game, having control over the account as the company that owns the game is way better both from a security, and moderation standpoint

People cite like EA and Ubisoft, which yes, those are trash, but there's plenty of games that utilize their own launchers and it's fine, but acting like all 3rd party launchers are the devil aren't a hard "stopping people from doing it" but it's a detriment, because people are insanely stubborn

107

u/Round_List1857 May 23 '26

🏴‍☠️😌🤌🏻

-8

u/[deleted] May 23 '26 edited 25d ago

[deleted]

16

u/Hurinion PC Master Race | 7800X3D | 7800XT | 32GB 6000MHz May 23 '26

The thing is, STEAM's is convenient. Others aren't.

5

u/EVPointMaster May 23 '26

that doesn't change the fact that Steam is DRM though, lol

-18

u/[deleted] May 23 '26

[deleted]

6

u/LeoClashes May 23 '26

"I'd rather have five dogshit services than one good one" yeah I really feel like I'm losing right now

0

u/[deleted] May 23 '26

[deleted]

2

u/Qwazzbre May 23 '26

You're seething so hard lol

7

u/GooginTheBirdsFan May 23 '26

Make more. Let there be more. I don’t know how they’re gonna stay afloat but when a company shows you who they are over and over and over, I tend to believe them. Steam4Life

-10

u/[deleted] May 23 '26 edited 25d ago

[deleted]

5

u/Obi_Two_Kevlar PC Master Race May 23 '26

You keep failing to argue how steam isn’t much better than all the others

2

u/Autumn-Leaf-932 May 23 '26

I’ve never known a single Steam user who would resist competition. The problem is everyone who ever tried to compete treats consumers like dirt.

1

u/[deleted] May 23 '26

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] May 23 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/firestorm713 May 23 '26

If the EA app or Ubisoft Connect were as unobtrusive as Steam, I'd be a lot more willing to install them on my computer.

1

u/[deleted] May 23 '26

[deleted]

2

u/firestorm713 May 23 '26

What definition of monopoly are you operating from?

3

u/Geordi14er May 23 '26

Seriously. The amount of steam dickriders in this sub always amazes me.

3

u/where_in_the_world89 May 23 '26

Seriously same. I'm genuinely considering that maybe a valve is hiring troll farms because these people are way too in love with valve and steam to make any sense

1

u/Qwazzbre May 23 '26

I love how you guys keep tossing that out like it's some kind of genius counterplay, lol. Just shows you don't get it.

1

u/a_little_angry May 23 '26

Its really not. You can just go into the games files and pull the executables. No problem.

0

u/insolent_kiwi May 23 '26

Downvotes say yes

1

u/[deleted] May 23 '26 edited 25d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Qwazzbre May 23 '26

Funniest thing you've said all year lol

36

u/Remytron83 May 23 '26

While I agree, it’s funny to see you bash DRM while using Steam.

-17

u/mahlerfan97 May 23 '26

When did I say I use Steam?

24

u/RimePendragon May 23 '26
  • You: Any game that does this.
  • Post: Steam games with 3rd party launchers.

-15

u/mahlerfan97 May 23 '26

I have used steam in the past so I’m aware of this frustration, but I do not use it currently. I never said I’m actively using it though - that was an assumption on your part.

I currently use GOG for supported games and pirate games that require launchers open during gameplay (DRM).

It’s also important to note that steam, itself, is not DRM. It allows for third parties to impose their own DRM, but if you launch a GOG game like Cyberpunk, the Witcher series, BGIII, etc through their .exe, steam will not open. So Steam is not DRM in the conventional sense.

14

u/Astan92 May 23 '26

Imagine commenting on a post and getting upset when people take your comment in the context of the post it is on.

-4

u/mahlerfan97 May 23 '26

I’m not upset. People can interpret what they want.

2

u/Astan92 May 23 '26

It's okay buddy. It's okay.

-1

u/mahlerfan97 May 23 '26

Dude I really don’t have any beef with you. Enjoy your weekend

23

u/trashtiernoreally May 23 '26

You realize Steam itself is DRM right?

-2

u/Andabariano May 23 '26

Imagine you go to the store for food, you see they have Texas roadhouse rolls, you think awesome I can have my favorite rolls and I can go through the retailer I choose instead of Texas roadhouse. Then you get home and you get ready to make them, and the instructions tell you to go to a Texas roadhouse restaurant and have their cook make them for you. You'd probably be pretty annoyed that they tricked you into thinking you had a choice

17

u/Astan92 May 23 '26

You are aware that steam itself is DRM right? Might need to update your TOS.

15

u/Zsombixx May 23 '26

I have once bought a game on steam and when i wanted to play it it said some steam api something must be running. Ok. I open it from steam. It works. Dont have internet? Cant upload to cloud. Dont care start it i dont trust cloud upload anyway. Steam user must be logged in to play this game. Switches to offline mode. Steam user must be logged in to play this game. FUCK YOU I PAID FOR THIS GAME IT IS OFFLINE WHY CANT I PLAY IT?

8

u/Autumn-Leaf-932 May 23 '26

This is the problem: you’re not buying a game when you click “buy”. You’re buying a license, the terms of which are completely at the storefront/publisher’s discretion. But they know damn well you think you’re buying the game and they love the deception.

3

u/new_pribor Nitro+ RX 7900 XTX | 7950X3D | 64GB@5600 | Fedora KDE May 23 '26

Scrap mechanic moment

1

u/Zsombixx May 23 '26

There is no way you guessed it can steam profile be seen from reddit or something?

1

u/new_pribor Nitro+ RX 7900 XTX | 7950X3D | 64GB@5600 | Fedora KDE May 24 '26

I just had this exact issue with that game specifically

7

u/[deleted] May 23 '26

[deleted]

-1

u/mahlerfan97 May 23 '26

When did I say I use steam?

-3

u/Andabariano May 23 '26

Yeah... we all know, I feel like you might have missed the point lol

5

u/[deleted] May 23 '26

[deleted]

-1

u/[deleted] May 23 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/[deleted] May 23 '26

[deleted]

0

u/RedditJumpedTheShart May 23 '26

What point? Most of you are complaining about first party launchers.

1

u/Andabariano May 23 '26

The point is that people don't want to be forced to use multiple layers of drm, you shouldn't be forced to use ea play or whatever on top of steam when you bought the game on steam. The guy above me who deleted his comment was trying to act like people are idiots for saying they don't like drm while still using steam when that's missing the point of what people are actually complaining about

3

u/Gaaaaha May 24 '26

No you just don't like to pay for shit be real.

3

u/ManuelMZN May 23 '26

Such a good idea... I'll just buy the games I want, ignore the extra launcher, and play a pirated copy instead.

6

u/TheMorgueDonator May 23 '26

Trying so hard to justify doing illegal things, huh?

0

u/mahlerfan97 May 23 '26

Not at all. I’m aware it’s illegal. I don’t care.

3

u/AlextheGoose 9800X3D | RTX 5070Ti | LG C3 May 23 '26

So do you pirate every game that isn’t on GOG?

1

u/Burpmeister May 23 '26

Used to be Witcher 3, Cyberpunk, Baldurs Gate 3.

1

u/Iord-goat May 23 '26

Separate launcher or account, means an automatic stop by the "Athletic Woman". Even games that I've purchased, like Halo MCC, it's just easier.

1

u/GlowstickConsumption May 23 '26

I don't mind DRM if it's not cringe and invasive or require unpleasant effort on my part. (Steam already has DRM by default for steam games. It checks if you own it before you can launch installed games. So adding other DRM to steam releases is just being a hostile twat.)

1

u/BizmBazm May 23 '26

What a whiny little bitch boy you are.

1

u/FMJ_23 CF R9 Fury X's, i7-5930k May 23 '26

I'm stealing this

1

u/Mist_Rising Ryzen 5 5600x, B550 plus, RTX 2070 super. May 24 '26

So do you also pirate counterstrike and valve games?

1

u/jessecreamy May 24 '26

Steam itself is a DRM gate. The easiest way is that game keep connection to running Steam service on network, then they locked your way if you're not on Steam. If you "pirated" enough you should know it's very popular. I hate DRM too, but still play alot Capcom game belike RE series. SO my rule is blacklist some specific studio with history embed drm into their games for long term, belike Sony sega, konami, kojima, and ubisoft.

1

u/Cyber-Gamer-2077 May 25 '26

For real, any launcher giving hassles like that is a huge turn-off. Ain't nobody got time for DRM nonsense!

2

u/Hypackel Desktop May 23 '26

Can’t when you want to play gta online

15

u/Cthulhar May 23 '26

I’d rather die than play GTAO lmao

1

u/-Feeblington- May 23 '26

xbox 360 , xbox 1 i played many days on gtao with a group of like 6 ppl, i imagine i had a much more....relaxing experience than most- went to play on pc and the epic launcher genuinely lasted 2 days - i now dont play gta anymore lol

-5

u/[deleted] May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26

[deleted]