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[LakeOf9]

Steam is obviously the most preferred launcher on PC right now such a degree that Steam itself can be viewed as synonymous with PC gaming

But of the non Steam launchers, which is your favorite? I expect GOG to win this but maybe the Xbox launcher has won enough fans with Game Pass, or Ubisoft has with… uh…

Or maybe you like Battle.Net because Blizzard can at least still make something that is functional and doesn't collapse when you look at it too hard.

What is it?

 

[nkarafo]

When you say favorite you must mean least bad right?

I'm going to say GOG Galaxy because it allows you to not use it for GOG games.

 

[bender]

I prefer GoG's launcher since it isn't required to use it.

 

[Cakeboxer]

Steam + GOG, the rest can fuck off.

 

[The_Mike]

Playnite.

Open source launcher that can integrate all your launchers + import all your emulation games.

 

[Baemono]

None, their awfullness is only matched by their uselessness

 

[Laptop1991]

GOG easily, it's the only one other than Steam i don't mind using.

 

[Fahdis]

Is GOG Galaxy 2.0 fixed yet with Steam or its still being a piece of shit not letting you sync your games? It was my favorite launcher until the syncing issues and are we out of beta yet?

 

[Fess]

These days, Xbox App no doubt. I've jumped from game to game all year. It's not Steam but it does it's job well enough, I get my achievements and my playtime is logged and my saves move between my PCs.

 

[Loomy]

GOG is the only right answer here. Xbox somewhat close second.

 

[yamaci17]

xbox app (it always ran properly for me, never had a problem with it. consider myself lucky i guess)
it doesn't have to run in the background
it doesn't have performance and VRAM consuming overlay by default (like steam). game bar only uses 40-50 mb vram in the background and not even that if you actually don't open it. whereas steam overlay at 1440p will easily push past 300-400 mb extra vram usage (on top of steam itself already using 150-250 mb vram by itself, and more if you have a lot of friends with animated profile pictures and friends window left open)
it is neat, tidy and straight to the point

epic launcher, ea app and ubisoft connect use VRAM and there's no option to disable hardware acceleration. almost all of them use a minimum of unnecessary 250-400 mb vram just running in the background

 

[winjer]

None. Not even GoG.
I'm so tired of having to use one launcher per major publisher.
Unless it's a game I really want to play, I just avoid games that are not on Steam.

 

[drganon]

Gog.

 

[Games Bookstore]

*.exe

 

[DirtyBast8rd]

I don't really care as long as it launches my game. I do get that Steam is the nicest.

 

[Hudo]

*.exe

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

Xbox probably, I also use a lot of UE5 so EGS doesn't bother me, but I think I prefer ubisoft over it.

I don't care much for any of them though, steam included.

 

[Tams]

GOG Galaxy.

But really just a folder with shortcuts to the game, with the games I'm currently playing also on the desktop. It uses zero extra resources and I have no need for overlays.

 

[Mr Hyde]

GoG is the only one I use outside of Steam. Their client and storefront is almost on par with Steam. Very intuitive and user friendly. When it comes to PC gaming I don't need anything else besides those two.

 

[Paasei]

I prefer GoG even over Steam.

 

[Drew1440]

GoG Galaxy. Though I cannot say I like Steam as a launcher either, being a bloated Chrome application.

 

[flipsake]

The Playnite launcher, you can add all of your games from different libraries and even emulated games.

 

[TintoConCasera]

ZDL Launcher

 

[Guilty_AI]

Any launcher that gives me the option not to use it

 

[Durin]

Out of the choices, GoG easily.

If we expanded the choices, Playnite or Launchbox. Both do what GoG Galaxy advertised better, where you can bring in your games from all other launchers, along with built-in support for emulators, and custom theming.

Oh, and Heroic Games Launcher is worth talking about (has Windows/Mac version). It one-ups merely collecting games from other launchers you need to install, and it actually will act as the installer+launcher for GoG, Epic & Amazon games. Nice minimal UI, loads fast, supports cloud saves, and has tabs to load up web instances of each store to buy the games.

 

[JohnSpartanLee]

Windows taskbar

 

[poppabk]

Out of the choices, GoG easily.

If we expanded the choices, Playnite or Launchbox. Both do what GoG Galaxy advertised better, where you can bring in your games from all other launchers, along with built-in support for emulators, and custom theming.

Oh, and Heroic Games Launcher is worth talking about (has Windows/Mac version). It one-ups merely collecting games from other launchers you need to install, and it actually will act as the installer+launcher for GoG, Epic & Amazon games. Nice minimal UI, loads fast, supports cloud saves, and has tabs to load up web instances of each store to buy the games.

Heroic Launcher for sure. It not only replaces the 3 launchers and their storefronts that get free games - but it also adds them automatically to Steam, so you only need to use it to install or update the games. And it has a nice easy to use interface.

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

 

[BlackTron]

I feel virtually nothing for all of them, except maybe Epic for whom I feel a small sense of gratitude for showering me with free games despite that I've never spent any money on them, not even played Fortnite for free and bought a skin. Not that the launcher itself is so amazing. I know people complain about the store, but what would I know about that?

 

[Mister Wolf]

Epic. They give me free games.

 

[Killer8]

None. Spent way too much time beautifying my Steam library with custom grids, a lot of which I made myself, to bother with the alternatives. I've added everything I own across all platforms as stubs too, just so I can see what I have.

 

[Bojji]

• Xbox (Game Pass) - SUCKS
• Epic Game Store - SUCKS
• Ubisoft Connect (uPlay) was OK few years ago, now SUCKS
• Battle.Net - SUCKS
• EA Launcher - SLIGHTY BETTER THAN OTHERS (lightweight)
• GOG Galaxy - SUCKS (many options but it's slow as fuck)

 

[RoboFu]

None

 

[StereoVsn]

GoG takes the cake since you actually don't have to use it if you don't want to. And for old games it's not like they are getting new patches.

For 3rd party launchers like Playnite I always wonder if there are any security concerns since you are essentially sharing or federating your credentials.

 

[Bulletbrain]

EPIC is fine compared to the rest. Fast to load, good download speeds, relatively unobtrusive.

 

[Bonfires Down]

Heroic Launcher for sure. It not only replaces the 3 launchers and their storefronts that get free games - but it also adds them automatically to Steam, so you only need to use it to install or update the games. And it has a nice easy to use interface.

Heroic is great, though it should be noted that there are user made extensions for Playnite that allow you to bypass the GOG, Epic and Amazon launchers in the same way (named GOG OSS, Legendary Launcher and Nile respectively).

 

[rm082e]

"Favorite" = least bad.

Epic Games launcher has given me no trouble. It lacks any meaningful features, but I don't care about them anyway. As a means to download and launch games, it works just fine.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

GOG, easily.

 

[Topher]

"Xbox" app. It is the only launcher I use on a regular basis outside of Steam.

 

[simpatico]

OP you should have made it "mandatory launchers" EA, Ubi, Epic, Rockstar. GOG being a choice just makes the thread less interesting because it's the obvious answer. Of those, EA has made theirs ultra lightweight, so I'm going EA.

However, something I don't see anyone talking about that I honestly just realized last night. Microsoft games on Steam don't go through the Xbox app! I've got Forza Horizon 5 on Steam and it just hit me that I never have to sign in to Xbox to play it. Anyone know if Halo Infinite is the same way?

 

[SHA]

I prefer GoG's launcher since it isn't required to use it.

Did she take APTX 4869 cause that's not how a child laughs?

 

[analog_future]

GOG, Xbox, and Epic are all pretty good. The rest are bad.

 

[VolticArchangel]

GOG or Playnite.

I'll stick with GOG, because it's an official storefront with multiple account integration and I trust CD Projekt more.

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

Blizzard. Net as someone who used to be a huge Blizzard fan.

 

[Spukc]

Steam

 

[Magic Carpet]

The Xbox app is my most used launcher. It's how I start the Gamepass stuff.
My only complaint with the Xbox app is it can take several hours to update your playtime.
I don't understand why it can't show that right away. It seems to need to cooperate with out of country servers before the time shows up.

 

[LordOcidax]

I take GOG over Steam easily…

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

Rocket launcher.

 

[delishcaek]

 

[Fbh]

The only other ones I've used are GOG Galaxy and Epic.
GOG works well, I also like it as a tool to have an overview of my entire library from all launchers.

Epic sucks. For some reason it makes my laptop work harder than running the actual games lol, it always feels slow and unresponsive. When I've used it to play some games it's also constantly asking me to log in, with the whole 2 factor authentication, like at least 2-3 times a week.