After a recent update, Civilization VI on Steam will no longer require the 2K Games launcher to play. And its upcoming sequel, Civ 7, also won’t force players to use a third-party launcher on Steam. It’s just the latest example of a new and positive trend.
For a long time now, Steam has been the dominant and most popular digital storefront for PC games. Most titles on the platform use Valve’s beloved app for DRM, updates, and all that other stuff. However, some publishers, like EA, have long forced players who buy their games on Steam to download, install, and deal with a separate PC launcher.
Over the last three years or so, more and more publishers have started following EA’s playbook of locking Steam games behind third-party apps. It’s annoying, often leads to a horrible experience, and can even block access to a game you own simply because EA or someone else’s launcher isn’t working properly. However, it seems publishers are starting to give up on all these silly launchers and that’s wonderful news.
As mentioned already, on August 15, 2K and Firaxis announced that 2016’s Civilization VI and its upcoming sequel won’t require a third-party launcher on Steam. In July, Kerbal Space Program quietly received an update that removed its controversial launcher, which was added to the rocket-building sim a few years after its early access debut.
Meanwhile, EA announced in May that It Takes Two, an award-winning co-op platform game, is also ditching the EA Games launcher. That made it easier to play on the Steam Deck. But EA also confirmed in July that October’s Dragon Age: The Veilguard won’t require players to download and install a third-party app either. This is all good news.
Look, I don’t have a problem with companies competing with Steam and creating their own digital stores on PC. In fact, I love it. While Steam is great, I think competition from Epic has led to Valve updating and improving Steam more than usual. And if EA or Ubisoft want to have their own stores and apps where they sell games a bit cheaper or include exclusive DLC or whatever, that’s fine.
The problem is when these publishers force you to download those other stores and launchers even when you buy the game on Steam. That’s when it gets frustrating.
So this recent trend of publishers ditching launchers for Steam games is a bit of good news in a year that has been filled with a lot of bad gaming news. Hopefully, these games sell well and convince other publishers to also ditch all these annoying launchers. I can dream, can’t I?
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