Haven't bought a Ubisoft game for more than a decade because all of their new stuff requires Uplay.
this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2026
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I just bought Far Cry 3 on steam, because it was on sale, but launching it requires me to sign into the uplay launcher. I now had multiple occurrences of the game not starting, because uplay couldn’t verify that I own the game. I then decided to open Far Cry from the uplay launcher directly which still opened steam. I guess jokes on me for not pirating the game.
I particularly appreciate the fact that it's EAs launcher in the meme, undoubtedly one of if not the worst offender for this shit.
The last time I tolerated a 3rd party launcher was when I was playing through the mass effect trilogy, as the 3rd game needed EA's launcher, I think.
It was so much of a pain, I just swore them off completely. Now if a game needs a 3rd party launcher, I either just don't play it, or... Yarr, if it's good enough to warrant it.
I love Mass Effect, but I haven't played the 3rd because of this
I bought ME:LE and I still refuse to play it uncracked. The EA app bullshit has caused me more than enough grief, actively preventing me from playing the game I paid for unless it's cracked.
Exactly the same for me. I played ME 1&2 years ago when they launched through steam, then when I finally got 3 it made me go through the EA launcher. I endured it just long enough to do the game once and then uninstalled it, and now I'm more vigilant about checking the reqs to see if games need 3rd party software.
ME 2 was better anyway
I just check the steam description. If it requires an account, uses a 3rd party launcher or/and has DRM, I pirate the game.
Same, except I don't pirate it, or play it. there's nearly limitless entertainment options and none is so special.
Nah, make a stop at the steam refund button on your way there
The only game I preordered in years was the new Bond game and that was before they disclosed they infested it with Denuvo. I refunded that shit before preloaded was even done.
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My favorite is that I bought a game on Epic and it has to use the Ubisoft Launcher.
Ubisoft accounts dont connect to Epic directly. Neither party - Ubisoft or Epic - would help me get it working so I cant play it.
Cool.
That's actually good, you wasted no time from your 2 hour refund period and can pirate it then.
- Diablo II: had a -skiptobnet command line option.
- Diablo II Resurrected: Load Battle.Net first, click through ads for other stuff, click again to start the game, press buttons to skip the animations, and press another key to really log in, for real this time.
So I just made a button that launches a script that does all those clicks for me while I retrieve a beverage. The only reason I didn't just pirate was so I could play online with an old friend.
I just stopped buying games from studios that do this.
Yep, same. If I buy a game and that's the first thing I'm hit with, it's an immediate refund. They can all go fuck off with their bs launchers.
Wonder if there is one worse then Mass Effect Legendary Edition.
Launch game on steam
It opens EA Origin
It then opens the Mass Effect LE launcher
Now you get to pick which Mass Effect game you want to play.
Even worse on Linux, their stupid EA app breaks all the time. It took me 20 minutes fucking around to finally get it to work yesterday.
I ended up giving up on my playthrough of Mass Effect Legendary Edition on linux for this reason. The EA App worked fine for a bit, so I had time to finish ME1 and get about halfway through ME2, but then the app updated and would just crash after that.
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Battlefield 3 on Steam:
- Steam launches EA App
- EA App launches Battlelog in your web browser, and a background service
- After choosing a mode/server, web browser sends data to EA App
- EA App launches bf3.exe
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It takes two. Fucking incredible game. Hasn't give me headaches during startup while playing on Linux. But God dang, why does it have to be paired with origin in windows and why do I have to login to it just run the game? Fucking eh...
I pirated the game and it doesn't do this
I have it on PS5 and it doesn't do this.
I mean, cool that you've pirated it. Not my case tho.
I have heard tons of good reviews for this game and I bought it once it got goty. Truly a masterpiece so I wanted to support good devs (unfortunately distributed through a crap add distributor). I'd pirate it too but price was right and devs are saints in my eyes. Already have gotten myself Split fiction.
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.
I think some games on steam you can just launch from the executable file. I rarely have, because my process is usually "open steam.. stare at list of games.. pick one", so steam is already open.
But yeah, at least it adds some value (proton magic, recording and screenshots, the overlay used to be real useful when i only had one monitor...)
Yep, launchers have always been a scam. Your launcher should be your operating system
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I feel this on a molecular level
Refund time
I wanted to try this "GTAV" game all the kids were talking about. It was on sale, so I spent four days downloading it over my miserable rural DSL connection only to find out that it wouldn't work without rockstar demanding my information.
So I refunded it. Im sure there was a work around but I didn't need to play it that bad.
Fucking Rockstar.
It took me fucking AGES to get Red Dead 2 running on CachyOS because of that bastard launcher.
the steam page warns you of third party launches before you buy the game doesn't it?
so at least if it does happen it shouldn't be a surprise
First thing I look for and any for any game that has one I hit the ignore button.
I wish Steam offered the ability to blanket ignore anything that required a third party launcher.
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I was glad to see with Cyberpunk that I could skip login with their launcher. Later when I decided to try RDR2 it didn't let me skip login, so I refunded that shit with 0 minutes played.
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I've made it a point to avoid games that require the used of a 3rd party launcher.
I tried to play GTA 4 through Steam
The launcher kept failing. Old Rockstar accounts, New ones, didn't matter. Refunded. I May pirate it at some point, I'll enjoy the nostalgia of it probably.
Know what works flawlessly? My Xbox 360 DISC.
Modern games are a joke.
I hate it so much when I am playing with a controller in Big Picture mode. Fuck off with extra bullshit. There's no reason a sign in thing needs to be a special window or extra program. I should be able to do anything like that in the game itself.
It messes so much up when I'm streaming from one PC to another too. I usually have to go back and forth to the other room to use the launcher, and sometimes again to make sure it focuses on the right application window.
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My gaming PC is connected to the TV screen and I use it like a console - which means I mostly use a gamepad. Until one of these fuckers show up, and I need to get off my lazy ass and go grab the keyboard...
Hold the "home" button (Xbox button, PS button; whatever the center one that opens the console menu is for your controller) and then use the right stick to move the cursor and R1 for left click.
Also good to know: Home and the left face button (X for xbox, Square for PS, Y for Nintendo) to open the on screen keyboard if it doesn't open automatically when selecting an input field (like naming your dude or something).
The only thing that sucks about Steam's special button combos is they all use the Home button; which also turns off most controllers when held long enough. 😬
Negative review. Every time. No matter how good the game.
I also don't buy them any more but I have a load in my library.
The only launchers i can bear are Steam (because it is useful after all, it has proton, the workshop, etc etc) and launchers for Minecraft
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Leased*
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