Minecraft is special. The launcher sets up a bunch of Java stuff and other game configurations. And it downloads updates and handles authentication. Technically you don't need it, but it makes it a little easier for the developers and the users. There are also third party launchers with additional functionality like downloading mods.
Other games often pretend they need that stuff when in reality they just want some more tracking that is not in the game itself.
Technically you don’t need it, but it makes it a little easier for the developers and the users.
For that matter, if you poke around in some games' files, you can find the actual game.exe and launch it directly from there, bypassing the launcher. You just bypass the authentication and compatibility checking as well.
That, my friends, is also how you play games from the epic store. And how to bypass steam as well.
Doesn't work with every game, though. Some have DRM that depends on the launcher and/or authentication.
Obviously not every game. Multiplay games won't work with it. And yes anything that inherently depends on the launcher. The vast majority of games it does work though.
It feels like a lot of people forget or don't realize that pc games are just files in a folder. Epic and Steam basically present you with shortcut icons to those exe files.
Multiplay games won't work with it
that's not actually a guarantee: BG3 has multiplayer and works just fine without the launcher. as do plenty of others.
--skip-launcher in the launch options on Steam, for anyone who doesn't know already
It's very annoying to self-update without a separate updater (Especially on Windows).
Another reason would be that it's good to have some functionality separated, like authentication and mod installation.
How does the updater get updated, though?
One executable updates the other and vice-versa. Like Robin Hood and Fryer Tuck defending one another.
That's far from the only approach, too.
you kid, but there's no shortage of steam games where steam (a launcher) updates the game's launcher
It usually makes it easier to centralize authentication. But more importantly (from the company's perspective), it gives the game producer a chance to upsell other products and micro-transaction content.
Don't forget that the game producer can now collect and sell data on their customers' systems.
With no privacy laws on the books in the USA, there's literally nothing stopping them, and a lot of incentive to do it.
This.
The one big advantage I see with it is that you can have multiple versions of Minecraft installed at once, and launch whichever you like.
Allow you to set graphics preferences before launching a game, so you don't end up with a tiny 480p sized window on a 4K screen during an unskippable (and unrepeatable) first-launch cutscene; or the reverse, you only see the 1920x1080 (or smaller) cutout of the center of a 3840x2160 image.
I hate when games launch directly into a cutscene. Let me change my graphics, turn on subtitles, change the audio, etc.
Other than a handful of games where it does literally nothing but force you to sign in to something (such as Rockstar's Social Club shit or the Xbox Live for Windows thing from years past) most of the ones I see having a launcher just for the one game are ones that let you adjust settings before starting, choose a renderer version to use (Vulkan, DX11, or DX12, etc), or, like as is with Minecraft, allows you to have a safe modded version kept separate from your vanilla game or to manage saves.
You can also, in most cases, bypass those launchers by just launching the preferred executable in the game's installation directory.
Ah yes, if you've ever had the problem of a game's graphics not working properly but you can't adjust the graphics because it requires you to launch the actual game and navigate the settings menu you will appreciate that. Most games store and read their settings in an external file and a launcher can provide a meaningful way to edit those. That being said there's many launchers who actually don't offer this feature and are just used to shove ads your way or track your behavior.
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