All of my systems are Linux, launching Windows games on Linux is not trivial, Steam takes away almost all of that complication. It also provides an excellent ten foot interface for me to use on my TV and buy/install/launch games from my couch without any hassle. Speaking of controller usage, Steam provides excellent support to remap controllers even if a game doesn't support it, and provide amazing features at that (for example multiple layers, gyroscopic mouse)

Games getting updated automatically is a great feature, I still remember having to download patches and applying them one by one after a fresh install. Similarly Steam also provides a workshop that allows you to install mods and keep them synced across different systems automatically.

Finally, the convenience of cloud saves for someone with multiple systems or who uninstalls a game and reinstalls it later is not easy to achieve without a launcher (I still have a saves folder backed up somewhere from before).

Besides all of that Achievement and other social features are important for some people. And for some games being able to easily play online with friends is amazing (if you're not old enough to know what GameSpy is you don't know what it was back then), although I don't play too many online games so this one is not that important for me, but when I need that feature it is very handy.

In short there are many reasons, but if you're playing old single-player games with mouse+keyboard on only one windows PC, then none of my reasons apply to you. Still I would argue that buying games on steam is easier than pirating them, so there's the convenience factor still (e.g. at a friend's house and they mention a game, open my phone, and in 5 min with a very intuitive flow I have the game downloading on my home PC so when I come back it's ready to play).

I too prefer to buy from GoG, but I often add my GoG games to be launched through Steam as non-Steam games so I can take advantage of features like Proton and Steam Input.

If I want to take advantage of certain features Steam only offers to games you buy through them, I will buy through Steam instead of GoG. Usually when I do this it’s for multiplayer or save file syncing reasons.

Steam features you can use with non-Steam games:

• provides SteamInput which allows me to use any game controller in any game with a lot of configuration options. It’s the best tool for that purpose I’ve ever seen.
• provides Proton for playing Windows games on Linux (and I do 99% of my gaming on Linux these days)
• provides VR headset drivers and tools for using different VR headsets with games not designed for them
• provides a TV and controller optimized interface (“Big Picture” mode)

Steam features exclusive to Steam games:

• updates games automatically
• backs up my saves and syncs them across devices
• provides multiplayer server infrastructure making it easy to play with friends
• provides modding infrastructure, although not all games use it
• provides tools for managing which version of a game you have installed

The biggest thing is the updates. If the game can update itself or is no longer getting updates I don't care about it having a launcher. If I have to go to their website and download a new .exe every time they do an update it is annoying. Steam does provide a lot of other QOL features as well though.

I never liked Steam when it was first released, it was problematic, slowed down my machine and caused me frustration.

Now it's different. I agree with Gene Newell that piracy is a service issue, I haven't pirated any games since steam started to fill its library with other non Valve games that I wanted.

I also appreciate the additional features that it brings like the community features and guides and managing updates for me.

It's not perfect, nothing is, buy I prefer it to managing my own files and updates.

On Linux, running an exe isn’t often as simple as “wine frog-fracker.exe”. It’s usually “proton PREFIX=~/steam-proton-10/ TRICKS=b DXIMPL=1.7.8 blah blah … frog-fracker.exe”

As a result, Linux gamers tend to have launchers even for hobby games they downloaded. Arcade launchers for emulated games are especially common now.

You don’t. When Valve first started with Steam, everybody hated it. I myself held out for a long time, not wanting a useless program hogging resources.

But gradually it became clear that Steam was actually just a game store. Except having to go to a store and rifle through boxes, you could do it from your PC. Yes it launched the games, but that was just like having a single folder with all game shortcuts. Its main purpose was discovering and buying new games.

Other vendors saw its success and wanted a piece of the cake. I think they mistakenly thought the launcher was an important part of Steam’s success, when it was in fact the large catalogue and good discoverability. They use exclusivity to lure customers, but can’t possibly compete with Valve.

Now we are at a point where the landscape is divided again. The majority of games is on Steam, but enough have their own place that the “single folder with shortcuts” became relevant again. That’s where the likes of Heroic and Playnite come in. These are no longer stores to buy games, but are simply a convenient way to quickly start the game you want, regardless of its source.

Not having a launcher is my requirement to buy a game lol

Good luck with that. I need it because I've fiddled with my screwdriver adjusting the cassette head position to load Scuba Diver on ZX Spectrum too many times.

I don't. I was still buying physical releases and renting games from my local video stores until both things died out against my will.

Steam is convienent for the services they provide.

Since the USA is turning to shit, I try to buy from stores outside USA now so GOG is increasingly seeing more of my money. Let's say Valve falls off or goes to shit after Gabe dies: I'm a skilled pirate so whatever.

Mostly I'm Ambivalent but kinda apathetic about launchers because I can just go and find whatever I potentially lose again elsewhere. A self educated privilege combined with grey morality I suppose. Or a resignation to an ever worsening reality I was born into without my say.

I mean steam adds a convenient way to keep your games up to date instead of having to manually patch them. I also was on the anti-steam bandwagon for the longest time until I finally gave in and decided to buy Modern Warfare 2 in 2010. I ended up repurchasing the rest of the Call of Duty games because it was so convenient not needing the discs and not having to locate patches.

Steam is the one launcher I don’t get pissed about having to use because it has so many value add features.

Unlike epic/origin/uplay

Its for DRM. The easiest way to check if you actually own the game is to have the game contantly ask whether its connected to the server. The server should have your payment info. If thats not found, your game isnt legit.

Thats why GOG is so good, their games dont have DRM. Meaning you (and pirates) have a BETTER version of the game. Let me repeat that, downloading an illegal copy gives you a better running version of the same game you mightve paid for, because it doesnt have to contantly talk to a server before the game will allow you to do anything.

When you pirate a steam game, youre also downloading a "fake" version of steam, a steam emulator. The way they break DRM for steam games doesnt remove the DRM, but it slightly reduces the issues DRM causes because the server it is communicating with is local and doesnt have to index user files. Your game just asks the steam emulator if its legit, the steam emulator doesnt check anything, it just says that whatever got checked was legit.

You think we want launchers?

I hated being forced to use Steam when it launched, after they shut down WON that was used for CS. I want as little applications running in the background 24/7 as possible.

Steam got better overall, making the 24/7 background application actually useful to keep running (controller support to control desktop, chats, notifications of sales, etc). Nobody else does that tho, and I definitely don't want to use a different launcher for every fucking game/store.

1. Games get updates far more often than they did back in the 90s and 00s. If your game is installed, it's pushed to you automatically. If it's not installed, the next time you install it, you'll be on the latest version.
2. Installing a game is passive compared to inserting the next disc, fishing out the serial key, etc. You just click download and walk away for 5 minutes. Likewise, as games are very large these days, you can easily uninstall and reinstall games on limited drive space very easily from the same UI.
3. Cloud saves. They're always nice to have. You can rig up something like it if you've got the networking and scripting know-how, but once again, it's just passive through a launcher like Steam.
4. There's a lot to be said about the longevity of network multiplayer games that allow you to self host and port forward, but Steam and its ilk mean that the average person never has to learn how to do that ever, and it's more secure for the end users for Steam to take on the burden of facilitating the connection.
5. With things like Steam's Big Picture Mode, you can navigate an entire library and jump from game to game with nothing but a controller.
6. Launching a game via Proton, whether in Heroic Games Launcher, Lutris, or Steam, is just easier and more automatic than not using a launcher.

All that said, there's a lot of value to GOG for never requiring the launcher (but they make an annoying exception for network multiplayer games).

It's there, and I'm lazy.

I like the ease of use and services Steam provides. The easy installs/reinstalls, cloud saves, the custom Notes are very useful for me, the library organization, some steam workshop stuff, the community hubs for games are fun shared content, the guides, the discussions, the reviews. All of it makes a nice experience. In general it's also cheaper than console. Then they made Steam Deck which is possibly my fav console ever.

Ease of use, manages updates and just keeps it all together.

My first PC games you had to exit windows and load the game thru DOS, it meant we learned how computers actually worked, but it was a hassle.

I don't. Launching things is my desktop environment's job.

Since the rise of game publishers' launchers, I have to use my (desktop) launcher to launch a (storefront's) launcher to launch a (publisher's) launcher to launch the game. It's probably the best example of the yo dawg meme I have ever seen. In other words, ridiculously annoying, not to mention wasteful of my time and system resources.

I resent the accusation that I need a launcher. I don't.

I'm a steam and gog fan.

I use steam for the ability to plug in any controller I want and instantly be able to use it. I can download controller maps from the community on the fly.
I can stream straight to my TV and play in any room with a TV in it with zero effort. I can join my friends games with two clicks. Remote play allows you to play games you don't even own with your friends. Works on linux. Integrated workshop. Easy modding.

I use gog for older games not on steam. Works on linux. (Heroic at least)

I could go on with steam, but those are the key points stands alone games don't offer.

I played PC games since the early 90s, so I am well familiar with how things used to be before steam. And it was fine. I was hesitant to use steam at first, because like you say, I simply didn't understand the point of it. Sometime after Valve released the orange box, that ended up being the first thing I bought on steam. And back then, some of the first things that I noticed about it was the ease of installing games, and the friends list that let me talk to and play games with my friends. I ended up getting really into team fortress 2, largely because I could play with people I knew, and we could even chat outside the game easily. It was easy to buy other games that these same friends were playing, and then enjoy a different game with them.

I got used to steam and it began to feel convenient, and at the same time, physical media started dying off. Steam let me easily install and uninstall any of my games whenever I wanted. I didn't have to keep track of any physical media. I don't have any of my old PC games from the 90s anymore. I have no idea where there went or how I lost them. But they are just gone. However, I still have every game I've ever bought on steam.

I'm not a heavy gamer anymore. If I see something I want, it's easy to just put it on my wishlist and wait until it goes on sale at a price I think is reasonable. If I feel bored, I might open up my full list of games and browse for something to install. My game saves get backed up to the cloud. My controllers just work. Everything related to the gaming experience is integrated into one place, and I like that, it makes it easy. And for the most part, steam kind of just stays out of my way.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I see there is a lot of features that I have no use for so I never explored (controller stuff, cloudsave, social features, achievements, etc)... I guess auto updates are cool though, but I only play old games anyway :P

I use Steam Input to set up mouse input on my controller to utilize gyro aiming, which lets me play against mouse players without utilizing aim assist.

And I also set up keyboard inputs on my controller to be able to utilize keyboard short cuts over relying on things like the weapon/item wheel.

Makes it so I get a controller experience that is more mouse and keyboard like that I couldn't get relying on default controller schemes.

All the talk of games ownership and preservation overlooks the fact that I can play my first steam game today, while so many of my disks have been lost to time.

And let's not forget how much bullshit came with those disks. DRM schemes up to and including root-kits. Serial # and activation codes. And don't forget, though you had physical media, what you actually owned was a licence.

I dont really need it but good launchers make things easier, especially on linux where sometimes a specific patch or version of something like proton is needed and i dont want to spend hours figuring it out by trial and error.

Im not a fan of launchers being required though, thats just DRM. But projects like Heroic launcher and Lutris are incredibly nice to have. Steam is alright, its hard to hate on a company that has done as much for linux gaming as valve has, but they do have their problems. 

Out of all the features Steam offers, the most useful is probably just automatic updates. Much better than having to go check for an update myself and maybe even redownload the whole game every time instead of just the changes.

Also Steam Workshop, multiplayer (if it goes through Steamworks), controller fixes, screenshot and recording functions, chat, forums, etc.

I'm not a fan of Steam or any launcher really but they have some useful features like friends lists and multiplayer updates. I don't miss the times of downloading individual patches and having to insert a disc but nowadays has its own problems like "online" requirements for singleplayer and being forced to update. Thankfully GOG exists and some devs still offer DRM free versions and that's my priority now.

90's kid myself so I probably don't fit into the old gamer category, but my grievance with launchers is the same with most UI systems: I must figure out how the author expected it to be used, and if there's something that bothers me, finding ways to circumvent or solve it is a quest.

At least with terminal-based tools, or very basic lanunchers, I can find far more easily ways to make launching games ideal, even by bridging to a program or the system's UI.

It can be convenient. You're going to launch the games somehow, whether that's clicking files in a folder or running a command. If you have a bunch of games it's nice to see them neatly organized in one place with nice visual representation. Non-launcher options tend to either get unwieldy or require more customization work.

The Steam launcher does a whole bunch of other useful things, like managing saves, setting up Proton, tracking play time and achievements, connecting to friends, integrating the store. It's not hard to see why people like the convenience.

It is annoying when it goes too far... like individual games that insist on having their own launcher.

Heroic is a nice middle ground. GoG gives you simple downloads, that you can then choose to access through Heroic.

Updating all of my games is a huge boost. I also enjoy the sync feature as I may play the same game on my desktop, HTPC, and Steam Deck. I like GOG allowing installing without their launcher, but I still just install games through Heroic Games Launcher for the same reasons as above.

Depending on how you make the game some launchers can make sense. You can set display options before launching the game. Back in ye olden times some games would launch by default in a set resolution which often made changing that in-game difficult as it would be off screen. Also makes your first time launching it a better experience than some low-res garbage. Also, without a platform like steam they can handle updates.

That being said, I don't think most modern games need those functions. Graphics engines are pretty good at getting screen resolution from your os (not perfect). And platforms handle patches and updates.

Now they're mostly there to gather metrics and shove ads in your face, and enforce drm.

One reason is Achievements. You need software to track it, and it is better to let the platform do it and consolidate all the common code and related UI, but that means there would be a platform process (e.g. Steam launcher / GOG Galaxy) running in the background to process them.

I may check out this GOG eventually. Accounts, subscriptions, micro transactions, and criminal proprietary extortion are why I stopped gaming for the most part. For me, it has been full-source or fuck off for a long time. I cannot fix stupid in anyone else but me. I will not support criminal extortion and bank account skimming scams. They only exist because people have no real moral depth and self respect to say no.

We don't, really. I certainly grew up without them. It did both good and bad things. It did centralize and simplify some things, but that came at a cost of freedom for more power users. It was great for sorting out dependencies at a time games were still often bad at doing that cleanly on their own for less-technical people. I think it did good things for community, though, particularly for those of us who did not use any modern consoles that had various party/SNS-like features baked in.

Having one launcher isn’t a problem for me. Steam’s OS’s launcher even allows me to launch GOG games through Heroic without even really launching Heroic.

Where it starts being a problem is when individual games need their own launcher..

I see the launcher as the system menu in a console..