this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2026
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Frankly, I despise all launchers, Steam included. The only reason it gets a pass is because it's one of the two somewhat reasonable ones, and the only one that makes gaming on Linux simple and convenient.
It's still slow, ugly as hell, and entirely unnecessary. Makes me want to pirate more, but then I'd have to set the games up from scratch.
The only use case for launchers is console gaming. It makes perfect sense on a Deck, Switch or a PS5. But absolutely no sense whatsoever on a desktop PC.
Again - Steam has features that make it tolerable (achievements, screenshot sharing, workshop, etc.), but I'd still prefer to just play my games without anything in the middle.
Yep, launchers have always been a scam. Your launcher should be your operating system
My operating system can’t filter by specifics like “local co-op” or “anime titties” though.
I get how organization can be useful but if click game.exe on my OS homescreen it should open game.exe. Not a series of launchers and login screens before launching game.exe