• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Bethesda Retires the Bethesda.net Launcher and Moves to Steam

Joined
Sep 2, 2020
Messages
1,491 (0.96/day)
System Name Chip
Processor Amd 5600X
Motherboard MSI B450M Mortar Max
Cooling Hyper 212
Memory 2x 16g ddr4 3200mz
Video Card(s) RX 6700
Storage 5.5 tb hd 220 g ssd
Display(s) Normal moniter
Case something cheap
VR HMD Vive
I take it that Bethesda will offer us refunds for those of us that don't have, and don't want a Steam account?
ima hazard a guess and say no
theirs probably a cause in there terms and agreements that says this is okay
Heck the fact they are letting you transfer to steam is better then i thought

For me
i dont care what laucher its on
I get it where its cheapest
OR if its from uplay/ea ect
EPIC because epics better for that kind of stuff
It remains the only launcher worth using to me so I won't be joining that bandwagon for quite some time
 
Joined
Mar 28, 2018
Messages
1,835 (0.75/day)
Location
Arizona
System Name Space Heater MKIV
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
Motherboard ASRock B550 Taichi
Cooling Noctua NH-U14S, 3x Noctua NF-A14s
Memory 2x32GB Teamgroup T-Force Vulcan Z DDR4-3600 C18 1.35V
Video Card(s) PowerColor RX 6800 XT Red Devil (2150MHz, 240W PL)
Storage 2TB WD SN850X, 4x1TB Crucial MX500 (striped array), LG WH16NS40 BD-RE
Display(s) Dell S3422DWG (34" 3440x1440 144Hz)
Case Phanteks Enthoo Pro M
Audio Device(s) Edifier R1700BT, Samson SR850
Power Supply Corsair RM850x, CyberPower CST135XLU
Mouse Logitech MX Master 3
Keyboard Glorious GMMK 2 96%
Software Windows 10 LTSC 2021, Linux Mint
Only use steam, if i buy off GoG i just download offline installer, don't need another launcher.
And the fact that you're able to do it that way is one of the main reasons GOG is the best.
 
Joined
Sep 2, 2020
Messages
1,491 (0.96/day)
System Name Chip
Processor Amd 5600X
Motherboard MSI B450M Mortar Max
Cooling Hyper 212
Memory 2x 16g ddr4 3200mz
Video Card(s) RX 6700
Storage 5.5 tb hd 220 g ssd
Display(s) Normal moniter
Case something cheap
VR HMD Vive
And the fact that you're able to do it that way is one of the main reasons GOG is the best.
I agree gog is the best
its a shame they often dont have games or games are more expensive over there.
 
Joined
Dec 26, 2006
Messages
3,833 (0.59/day)
Location
Northern Ontario Canada
Processor Ryzen 5700x
Motherboard Gigabyte X570S Aero G R1.1 BiosF5g
Cooling Noctua NH-C12P SE14 w/ NF-A15 HS-PWM Fan 1500rpm
Memory Micron DDR4-3200 2x32GB D.S. D.R. (CT2K32G4DFD832A)
Video Card(s) AMD RX 6800 - Asus Tuf
Storage Kingston KC3000 1TB & 2TB & 4TB Corsair MP600 Pro LPX
Display(s) LG 27UL550-W (27" 4k)
Case Be Quiet Pure Base 600 (no window)
Audio Device(s) Realtek ALC1220-VB
Power Supply SuperFlower Leadex V Gold Pro 850W ATX Ver2.52
Mouse Mionix Naos Pro
Keyboard Corsair Strafe with browns
Software W10 22H2 Pro x64
Things I hate about Steam:

View attachment 237586

View attachment 237587

View attachment 237591

Oh, and RIP this old "List" view that actually helped you manage a large Steam library by sortable columns - Install state, cloud sync state, last played, install size, location etc:
View attachment 237592

Steam is slowly but surely bloating out with microtransaction and sponsored content creep to become one of the worst game launchers and library managers out there. Sure the pricing in sales is good and the distribution network/download servers are excellent but it's 95% bullshit that has nothing to do with managing and launching your games, and that number grows with each abysmal interface update that hides actual games you've bought and shoves some new crap in your face instead....
oh ya I remember that "old list" now, the good ol days. Yes sometimes change for the sake of change isn't good. All the young kids probably like all that other fluff though lol

Me and my buddies do use the steam chat client more than discord or anything else, just cause convenience since we're all on steam.
 

qubit

Overclocked quantum bit
Joined
Dec 6, 2007
Messages
17,865 (2.88/day)
Location
Quantum Well UK
System Name Quantumville™
Processor Intel Core i7-2700K @ 4GHz
Motherboard Asus P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3
Cooling Noctua NH-D14
Memory 16GB (2 x 8GB Corsair Vengeance Black DDR3 PC3-12800 C9 1600MHz)
Video Card(s) MSI RTX 2080 SUPER Gaming X Trio
Storage Samsung 850 Pro 256GB | WD Black 4TB | WD Blue 6TB
Display(s) ASUS ROG Strix XG27UQR (4K, 144Hz, G-SYNC compatible) | Asus MG28UQ (4K, 60Hz, FreeSync compatible)
Case Cooler Master HAF 922
Audio Device(s) Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty PCIe
Power Supply Corsair AX1600i
Mouse Microsoft Intellimouse Pro - Black Shadow
Keyboard Yes
Software Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
This is great news. Steam is the best platform IMO and means one less to manage.
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2019
Messages
12,340 (5.76/day)
Location
Midlands, UK
System Name Nebulon B
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard MSi PRO B650M-A WiFi
Cooling be quiet! Dark Rock 4
Memory 2x 24 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR5-4800
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT 12 GB
Storage 2 TB Corsair MP600 GS, 2 TB Corsair MP600 R2
Display(s) Dell S3422DWG, 7" Waveshare touchscreen
Case Kolink Citadel Mesh black
Audio Device(s) Logitech Z333 2.1 speakers, AKG Y50 headphones
Power Supply Seasonic Prime GX-750
Mouse Logitech MX Master 2S
Keyboard Logitech G413 SE
Software Bazzite (Fedora Linux) KDE
On this rare occasion, let me celebrate monopoly (just this once).
 
Joined
Dec 28, 2012
Messages
3,884 (0.89/day)
System Name Skunkworks 3.0
Processor 5800x3d
Motherboard x570 unify
Cooling Noctua NH-U12A
Memory 32GB 3600 mhz
Video Card(s) asrock 6800xt challenger D
Storage Sabarent rocket 4.0 2TB, MX 500 2TB
Display(s) Asus 1440p144 27"
Case Old arse cooler master 932
Power Supply Corsair 1200w platinum
Mouse *squeak*
Keyboard Some old office thing
Software Manjaro
Good. The Bethesda launcher was woefully behind the times and mainly existed so Bethesda could control the narrative on game launches and cut steam out of the profits (which sucked because their game sales tanked once steam releases stopped). The windows store is an unmitigated trainwreck, and it seems that steam is the only one of the platforms that allows for easy file backupa nd restore without having to actually USE the backup tool that takes forever.
 
Joined
Jun 27, 2019
Messages
2,109 (1.07/day)
Location
Hungary
System Name I don't name my systems.
Processor i5-12600KF 'stock power limits/-115mV undervolt+contact frame'
Motherboard Asus Prime B660-PLUS D4
Cooling ID-Cooling SE 224 XT ARGB V3 'CPU', 4x Be Quiet! Light Wings + 2x Arctic P12 black case fans.
Memory 4x8GB G.SKILL Ripjaws V DDR4 3200MHz
Video Card(s) Asus TuF V2 RTX 3060 Ti @1920 MHz Core/@950mV Undervolt
Storage 4 TB WD Red, 1 TB Silicon Power A55 Sata, 1 TB Kingston A2000 NVMe, 256 GB Adata Spectrix s40g NVMe
Display(s) 29" 2560x1080 75Hz / LG 29WK600-W
Case Be Quiet! Pure Base 500 FX Black
Audio Device(s) Onboard + Hama uRage SoundZ 900+USB DAC
Power Supply Seasonic CORE GM 500W 80+ Gold
Mouse Canyon Puncher GM-20
Keyboard SPC Gear GK630K Tournament 'Kailh Brown'
Software Windows 10 Pro
Well that explais, I happened to fire up Doom Eternal yesterday to check how it runs now with the i 3 and saw this pop up telling me that I can start my account migration to Steam soon and I was like wait what.:confused:

Oh well -1 launcher on my PC 'Had 7 already' + now I can have both 2016 DOOM and Eternal on Steam, not a big importance to me since I buy games all over the place but I definitely dont mind it.
 
Joined
Feb 23, 2019
Messages
6,069 (2.88/day)
Location
Poland
Processor Ryzen 7 5800X3D
Motherboard Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite
Cooling Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE
Memory 2x16 GB Crucial Ballistix 3600 CL16 Rev E @ 3800 CL16
Video Card(s) RTX3080 Ti FE
Storage SX8200 Pro 1 TB, Plextor M6Pro 256 GB, WD Blue 2TB
Display(s) LG 34GN850P-B
Case SilverStone Primera PM01 RGB
Audio Device(s) SoundBlaster G6 | Fidelio X2 | Sennheiser 6XX
Power Supply SeaSonic Focus Plus Gold 750W
Mouse Endgame Gear XM1R
Keyboard Wooting Two HE
Joined
Dec 16, 2021
Messages
333 (0.31/day)
Location
Denmark
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 3800X
Motherboard ASUS Prime X470-Pro
Cooling bequiet! Dark Rock Slim
Memory 64 GB ECC DDR4 2666 MHz (Samsung M391A2K43BB1-CTD)
Video Card(s) eVGA GTX 1080 SC Gaming, 8 GB
Storage 1 TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus, 1 TB Samsung 850 EVO, 4 TB Lexar NM790, 12 TB WD HDDs
Display(s) Acer Predator XB271HU
Case Corsair Obsidian 550D
Audio Device(s) Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty
Power Supply Seasonic X-Series 560W
Mouse Logitech G502
Keyboard Glorious GMMK
I don't have much on the Bethesda launcher. I do, however, have some stuff on there which, at least currently, isn't on Steam. Namely some of the old Elder Scrolls games like Arena and Daggerfall. I wonder what will happen to those.
 
Joined
May 8, 2018
Messages
1,568 (0.65/day)
Location
London, UK
Good move however we need competition x steam for steam itself to lower prices, monopoly or lack of a good competition is never a good thing.
 
Joined
Sep 17, 2014
Messages
22,451 (6.03/day)
Location
The Washing Machine
Processor 7800X3D
Motherboard MSI MAG Mortar b650m wifi
Cooling Thermalright Peerless Assassin
Memory 32GB Corsair Vengeance 30CL6000
Video Card(s) ASRock RX7900XT Phantom Gaming
Storage Lexar NM790 4TB + Samsung 850 EVO 1TB + Samsung 980 1TB + Crucial BX100 250GB
Display(s) Gigabyte G34QWC (3440x1440)
Case Lian Li A3 mATX White
Audio Device(s) Harman Kardon AVR137 + 2.1
Power Supply EVGA Supernova G2 750W
Mouse Steelseries Aerox 5
Keyboard Lenovo Thinkpad Trackpoint II
Software W11 IoT Enterprise LTSC
Benchmark Scores Over 9000
Microsoft probably has a pretty good deal with Steam. All MS are on steam but not on epic, and now they are moving the Bethesda services to steam and not the Xbox PC app.
.

Hey, look! Competition! Vendor-Exclusive content!

Strange how that market works :)

Just seen the news. Lol.

So... EA and Bethesda started their own clients, now they both crawl back to Steam.

Very nice IMHO to see the publisher-specific stores die a slow and painful death. That was really going nowhere. Next hurdle is killing double DRM, or DRM altogether, but that's wishful thinking.

I hope Ubisoft is next, that launcher/store is an absolute horror still.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Aug 23, 2013
Messages
581 (0.14/day)
Just seen the news. Lol.

So... EA and Bethesda started their own clients, now they both crawl back to Steam.

To be fair, EA had their own client around the time of Steam's launch. It was called EA Download Manager and eventually transformed into Origin. I inherited a lot of games from that because I'd get the keys for cheap from ebay back when EA still made physical discs. The abomination that is the EA App or whatever it's called is the joke. Origin at least knows about all my games. EA App is years in and still hasn't been updated to recognize Mass Effect 2 while it is fine with me owning Mass Effect 1, 3, and Andromeda. Why would you not add all your games first before you turn a service on? The best part is when it says, "Not see all your games? Don't worry. And if you need them, go turn Origin on."

Except you have to choose. Either EA App with Game Pass integration OR Origin. You can't run both simultaneously.

Origin was always good enough for me, though I don't play multiplayer games by EA.

The launcher review no one asked for:

Steam, does everything well>Uplay, fine>Battle.Net, new UI is too busy>Origin, functional>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>GOG Galaxy, the system hog with no way back after you add integrations and that spends 10 minutes loading up every game if you stupidly think it will replace your other launchers>Rockstar, the glitchy>Epic, the bigger system hog>EA App, doesn't recognize all my games

People who praise GOG do not use Galaxy with any library at all. Galaxy is garbage. I'm guessing you GOG lovers are ignoring their Steam alternative completely.
 
Joined
Sep 17, 2014
Messages
22,451 (6.03/day)
Location
The Washing Machine
Processor 7800X3D
Motherboard MSI MAG Mortar b650m wifi
Cooling Thermalright Peerless Assassin
Memory 32GB Corsair Vengeance 30CL6000
Video Card(s) ASRock RX7900XT Phantom Gaming
Storage Lexar NM790 4TB + Samsung 850 EVO 1TB + Samsung 980 1TB + Crucial BX100 250GB
Display(s) Gigabyte G34QWC (3440x1440)
Case Lian Li A3 mATX White
Audio Device(s) Harman Kardon AVR137 + 2.1
Power Supply EVGA Supernova G2 750W
Mouse Steelseries Aerox 5
Keyboard Lenovo Thinkpad Trackpoint II
Software W11 IoT Enterprise LTSC
Benchmark Scores Over 9000
To be fair, EA had their own client around the time of Steam's launch. It was called EA Download Manager and eventually transformed into Origin. I inherited a lot of games from that because I'd get the keys for cheap from ebay back when EA still made physical discs. The abomination that is the EA App or whatever it's called is the joke. Origin at least knows about all my games. EA App is years in and still hasn't been updated to recognize Mass Effect 2 while it is fine with me owning Mass Effect 1, 3, and Andromeda. Why would you not add all your games first before you turn a service on? The best part is when it says, "Not see all your games? Don't worry. And if you need them, go turn Origin on."

Except you have to choose. Either EA App with Game Pass integration OR Origin. You can't run both simultaneously.

Origin was always good enough for me, though I don't play multiplayer games by EA.

The launcher review no one asked for:

Steam, does everything well>Uplay, fine>Battle.Net, new UI is too busy>Origin, functional>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>GOG Galaxy, the system hog with no way back after you add integrations and that spends 10 minutes loading up every game if you stupidly think it will replace your other launchers>Rockstar, the glitchy>Epic, the bigger system hog>EA App, doesn't recognize all my games

People who praise GOG do not use Galaxy with any library at all. Galaxy is garbage. I'm guessing you GOG lovers are ignoring their Steam alternative completely.

Galaxy IS garbage. But honestly, why would you want a launcher to do anything other than launch games. The whole mod support, and all the other added services are utter nonsense, games/publishers should manage that per game. Them not doing so is what creates this strange situation where the same game can't run launcher agnostic because numerous elements are 'done by Valve' or whatever other party.

See, that is the long and short of platformization. The companies that launch products on them, launch a product that 'looks' the same as it always did, but under the hood they paid others to deliver parts of it for them. So you're not buying 'the product', you're buying in to the platform. And then you're suddenly connected to a platform when all you needed was a product.

So GoG and Galaxy while being not the most optimal solution... are still the ONLY solution that releases products as feature complete things that work independently of the launcher. Realistically that's what you're expecting to get, right, when you click a buy button on any website?

Luckily in the case of Steam all you really need is a dll to circumvent the whole DRM they deploy, which is why every other pirated game is a Steam release, but still. Its not accessible unless you hack. Similarly, on Epic Games Store, their DRM is virtually nonexistant as well, but that stops abruptly when publishers start moving features to the platform, like mod support or the community elements. What we're also seeing is that publishers still deploy their own launcher behind the platform, so its clear they see a similar risk of not having full ownership/control. After all, you don't implement or pay for things twice on purpose.
 
Last edited:

silentbogo

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 20, 2013
Messages
5,541 (1.38/day)
Location
Kyiv, Ukraine
System Name WS#1337
Processor Ryzen 7 5700X3D
Motherboard ASUS X570-PLUS TUF Gaming
Cooling Xigmatek Scylla 240mm AIO
Memory 4x8GB Samsung DDR4 ECC UDIMM
Video Card(s) MSI RTX 3070 Gaming X Trio
Storage ADATA Legend 2TB + ADATA SX8200 Pro 1TB
Display(s) Samsung U24E590D (4K/UHD)
Case ghetto CM Cosmos RC-1000
Audio Device(s) ALC1220
Power Supply SeaSonic SSR-550FX (80+ GOLD)
Mouse Logitech G603
Keyboard Modecom Volcano Blade (Kailh choc LP)
VR HMD Google dreamview headset(aka fancy cardboard)
Software Windows 11, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
Good riddance!
That abomination was so bad, they couldn't fix proper scaling on anything higher than 1080p for almost half-a-decade. Even something simple like patching games was a challenge, since in Bethesda's view "patch" was simply redownloading the entire game after every tiny fix. Used to play Quake Champions when it was still relevant, and 30+GB patches forced me to spend $10 on Steam for the cheapest "Scalebearer Edition" just to avoid that nightmare.
The only reason Bethesda Launcher existed is to "flex" on early releases and exclusives. Competition and innovation was never in the picture.
 
Joined
Jun 10, 2014
Messages
824 (0.22/day)
Location
Poland
System Name Proper
Processor 5900X + OC
Motherboard GB X570s Elite AX
Cooling WC Heatkiller 3.0 LT
Memory G.Skill 3600 CL16
Video Card(s) Zotac RTX 3070 Ti Trinity LC'ed + OC
Storage KC2500 1TB + A2000 1TB
Display(s) GB M32Q
Case Fractal Define R6 USB C
Audio Device(s) Creative AE-7 + Phonic AM120 MkIII + H/K AVR 265 -> Paradigm Monitor 11 v.7 + AKG K712 Pro
Power Supply Seasonic Prime PX-850
Mouse Log G502 X LS
Keyboard Keychron K5 Opt.brown
Software Win10 Pro
Microsoft probably has a pretty good deal with Steam. All MS are on steam but not on epic, and now they are moving the Bethesda services to steam and not the Xbox PC app.
.
Or they just realised it's a waste of money to keep it...

I'm fine with different launchers/game stores, unless I'm forced to install one just to play a game I bought somewhere else...
 
Joined
Jun 27, 2019
Messages
2,109 (1.07/day)
Location
Hungary
System Name I don't name my systems.
Processor i5-12600KF 'stock power limits/-115mV undervolt+contact frame'
Motherboard Asus Prime B660-PLUS D4
Cooling ID-Cooling SE 224 XT ARGB V3 'CPU', 4x Be Quiet! Light Wings + 2x Arctic P12 black case fans.
Memory 4x8GB G.SKILL Ripjaws V DDR4 3200MHz
Video Card(s) Asus TuF V2 RTX 3060 Ti @1920 MHz Core/@950mV Undervolt
Storage 4 TB WD Red, 1 TB Silicon Power A55 Sata, 1 TB Kingston A2000 NVMe, 256 GB Adata Spectrix s40g NVMe
Display(s) 29" 2560x1080 75Hz / LG 29WK600-W
Case Be Quiet! Pure Base 500 FX Black
Audio Device(s) Onboard + Hama uRage SoundZ 900+USB DAC
Power Supply Seasonic CORE GM 500W 80+ Gold
Mouse Canyon Puncher GM-20
Keyboard SPC Gear GK630K Tournament 'Kailh Brown'
Software Windows 10 Pro
Or they just realised it's a waste of money to keep it...

I'm fine with different launchers/game stores, unless I'm forced to install one just to play a game I bought somewhere else...

Thats exactly what happened with me.
I wasn't using Bethesda launcher before Eternal but since I bought the Box physical copy of the game which came with a paper DvD with a code on it that only worked in Bethesda Launcher so yea.

Other than that I also don't mind various launchers, I don't have them auto start with windows and only start up the one I need for the game I'm playing. 'don't use them to stay in touch with friends either'
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2019
Messages
12,340 (5.76/day)
Location
Midlands, UK
System Name Nebulon B
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard MSi PRO B650M-A WiFi
Cooling be quiet! Dark Rock 4
Memory 2x 24 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR5-4800
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT 12 GB
Storage 2 TB Corsair MP600 GS, 2 TB Corsair MP600 R2
Display(s) Dell S3422DWG, 7" Waveshare touchscreen
Case Kolink Citadel Mesh black
Audio Device(s) Logitech Z333 2.1 speakers, AKG Y50 headphones
Power Supply Seasonic Prime GX-750
Mouse Logitech MX Master 2S
Keyboard Logitech G413 SE
Software Bazzite (Fedora Linux) KDE
The launcher review no one asked for:

Steam, does everything well>Uplay, fine>Battle.Net, new UI is too busy>Origin, functional>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>GOG Galaxy, the system hog with no way back after you add integrations and that spends 10 minutes loading up every game if you stupidly think it will replace your other launchers>Rockstar, the glitchy>Epic, the bigger system hog>EA App, doesn't recognize all my games

People who praise GOG do not use Galaxy with any library at all. Galaxy is garbage. I'm guessing you GOG lovers are ignoring their Steam alternative completely.
My launcher review no one asked for:

Steam: Sturdy, well-maintained, reliable platform with a history, lots of games and features (most of them useful, some of them not so much).
GOG: It is what it says: good old games. Plus no DRM. Where you actually do get what you pay for, instead of renting it with a licence for infinite reinstalls.
Origin: Worthless piece of crap that gives me a "memory exception breakpoint" error every time I turn off my PC without quitting Origin first. But I've got a few EA games, so whatevs...
Uplay: Wasted effort. Nice try.
Epic: Exclusive deals and nothing else. You play through our crappy launcher, or wait for a year. I'll wait for a year, thank you very much.
Bethesda Launcher: Did it even exist?

Galaxy IS garbage. But honestly, why would you want a launcher to do anything other than launch games. The whole mod support, and all the other added services are utter nonsense, games/publishers should manage that per game. Them not doing so is what creates this strange situation where the same game can't run launcher agnostic because numerous elements are 'done by Valve' or whatever other party.

See, that is the long and short of platformization. The companies that launch products on them, launch a product that 'looks' the same as it always did, but under the hood they paid others to deliver parts of it for them. So you're not buying 'the product', you're buying in to the platform. And then you're suddenly connected to a platform when all you needed was a product.

So GoG and Galaxy while being not the most optimal solution... are still the ONLY solution that releases products as feature complete things that work independently of the launcher. Realistically that's what you're expecting to get, right, when you click a buy button on any website?

Luckily in the case of Steam all you really need is a dll to circumvent the whole DRM they deploy, which is why every other pirated game is a Steam release, but still. Its not accessible unless you hack. Similarly, on Epic Games Store, their DRM is virtually nonexistant as well, but that stops abruptly when publishers start moving features to the platform, like mod support or the community elements. What we're also seeing is that publishers still deploy their own launcher behind the platform, so its clear they see a similar risk of not having full ownership/control. After all, you don't implement or pay for things twice on purpose.
Launchers didn't come into existence because we needed them, but because publishers wanted to make more money. It's easier to attach a service to a crappy game and charge more than making that game a bit less crappy. As for me, I'd still be perfectly happy with physical discs anno 2022 if they were available - although, it would make patching a bit more difficult, which is a crucial part of gaming nowadays, unfortunately.
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2019
Messages
51 (0.02/day)
I'd like to see another platform launcher like Steam, but not directly tied to any developers, like GoG.
GOG isn't an independent service though. They're completely owned by CD Projekt.

So GoG and Galaxy while being not the most optimal solution... are still the ONLY solution that releases products as feature complete things that work independently of the launcher. Realistically that's what you're expecting to get, right, when you click a buy button on any website?
You still need the Galaxy launcher to play multiplayer though.
 
Last edited:
Joined
May 17, 2021
Messages
3,005 (2.33/day)
Processor Ryzen 5 5700x
Motherboard B550 Elite
Cooling Thermalright Perless Assassin 120 SE
Memory 32GB Fury Beast DDR4 3200Mhz
Video Card(s) Gigabyte 3060 ti gaming oc pro
Storage Samsung 970 Evo 1TB, WD SN850x 1TB, plus some random HDDs
Display(s) LG 27gp850 1440p 165Hz 27''
Case Lian Li Lancool II performance
Power Supply MSI 750w
Mouse G502
A launcher for all, but independent from all, would be amazing, and also an impossible dream.

Apart from Steam i use Ubi connect and EGS a lot and i honestly have no loyalties and couldn't care less. But i would still prefer to not have to install so many launchers.
 
Joined
Feb 20, 2019
Messages
8,282 (3.93/day)
System Name Bragging Rights
Processor Atom Z3735F 1.33GHz
Motherboard It has no markings but it's green
Cooling No, it's a 2.2W processor
Memory 2GB DDR3L-1333
Video Card(s) Gen7 Intel HD (4EU @ 311MHz)
Storage 32GB eMMC and 128GB Sandisk Extreme U3
Display(s) 10" IPS 1280x800 60Hz
Case Veddha T2
Audio Device(s) Apparently, yes
Power Supply Samsung 18W 5V fast-charger
Mouse MX Anywhere 2
Keyboard Logitech MX Keys (not Cherry MX at all)
VR HMD Samsung Oddyssey, not that I'd plug it into this though....
Software W10 21H1, barely
Benchmark Scores I once clocked a Celeron-300A to 564MHz on an Abit BE6 and it scored over 9000.
It goes through cycles. But hate for steam existed for a very long time. Actually, since it's inception.
I think most people have a love-hate relationship with Steam, much like they have a love-hate relationship with Windows.

It's the most popular platform that for the most part works flawlessly but its developers are constantly fettling with it, trying to monetise it and control its users in ways that nobody asked for and almost nobody wants. Shit gets added that gets in the way of its basic purpose and this new shit cannot be disabled or turned off, you just have to tolerate it or find workarounds that are reset back to "shit in your face" every major update. It's masquerading as a flexible, customisable platform but in reality your choices are constantly deleted, overruled, revoked, or reset.

Because the competition isn't really very good competition, they can get away with doing pretty much whatever they want because where else are you going to go? People are too heavily invested in the good parts of the platform to walk away....
 
Joined
Sep 20, 2019
Messages
527 (0.28/day)
Processor i9-9900K @ 5.1GHz (H2O Cooled)
Motherboard Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master
Cooling CPU = EK Velocity / GPU = EK Vector
Memory 32GB - G-Skill Trident Z RGB @ 3200MHz
Video Card(s) AMD RX 6900 XT (H2O Cooled)
Storage Samsung 860 EVO - 970 EVO - 870 QVO
Display(s) Samsung QN90A 50" 4K TV & LG 20" 1600x900
Case Lian Li O11-D
Audio Device(s) Presonus Studio 192
Power Supply Seasonic Prime Ultra Titanium 850W
Mouse Logitech MX Anywhere 2S
Keyboard Matias RGB Backlit Keyboard
Software Windows 10 & macOS (Hackintosh)
I take it that Bethesda will offer us refunds for those of us that don't have, and don't want a Steam account?
lol no you still bought the game and played it X number of hours I'm sure. you still own the game, you will now launch it from a different program. seeing how launcher A (Bethesda) is going bye bye, launcher B (Steam) is just a replacement for it.....out with the old, in with new as the saying goes

I don't have much on the Bethesda launcher. I do, however, have some stuff on there which, at least currently, isn't on Steam. Namely some of the old Elder Scrolls games like Arena and Daggerfall. I wonder what will happen to those.
"Any title you own on the Bethesda.net Launcher will be available to you free on Steam" meaning it doesn't need to be already on Steam....if it isn't already, it will be now
 
Joined
Jan 17, 2018
Messages
433 (0.17/day)
Processor Ryzen 7 5800X3D
Motherboard MSI B550 Tomahawk
Cooling Noctua U12S
Memory 32GB @ 3600 CL18
Video Card(s) AMD 6800XT
Storage WD Black SN850(1TB), WD Black NVMe 2018(500GB), WD Blue SATA(2TB)
Display(s) Samsung Odyssey G9
Case Be Quiet! Silent Base 802
Power Supply Seasonic PRIME-GX-1000
To be fair, EA had their own client around the time of Steam's launch. It was called EA Download Manager and eventually transformed into Origin. I inherited a lot of games from that because I'd get the keys for cheap from ebay back when EA still made physical discs. The abomination that is the EA App or whatever it's called is the joke. Origin at least knows about all my games. EA App is years in and still hasn't been updated to recognize Mass Effect 2 while it is fine with me owning Mass Effect 1, 3, and Andromeda. Why would you not add all your games first before you turn a service on? The best part is when it says, "Not see all your games? Don't worry. And if you need them, go turn Origin on."

Except you have to choose. Either EA App with Game Pass integration OR Origin. You can't run both simultaneously.

Origin was always good enough for me, though I don't play multiplayer games by EA.

The launcher review no one asked for:

Steam, does everything well>Uplay, fine>Battle.Net, new UI is too busy>Origin, functional>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>GOG Galaxy, the system hog with no way back after you add integrations and that spends 10 minutes loading up every game if you stupidly think it will replace your other launchers>Rockstar, the glitchy>Epic, the bigger system hog>EA App, doesn't recognize all my games

People who praise GOG do not use Galaxy with any library at all. Galaxy is garbage. I'm guessing you GOG lovers are ignoring their Steam alternative completely.
When was the last time you used Galaxy? Before 2.0? I will admit that it wasn't good before 2.0. It works very well since 2.0, and if it is more 'resource intensive' than other clients, it's not by any noticeable amount.

This is coming from someone that has 400+ games on steam(100+ installed), a bunch on epic because of free/endless coupons during sales, and a couple dozen split between all the on the other platforms. It takes no time at all to load a list of all the games I own. It does, of course, take a few seconds to launch a game from another client when that client isn't running, but that should be expected.
 
Joined
Aug 21, 2013
Messages
1,898 (0.46/day)
Good riddance!
That abomination was so bad, they couldn't fix proper scaling on anything higher than 1080p for almost half-a-decade. Even something simple like patching games was a challenge, since in Bethesda's view "patch" was simply redownloading the entire game after every tiny fix. Used to play Quake Champions when it was still relevant, and 30+GB patches forced me to spend $10 on Steam for the cheapest "Scalebearer Edition" just to avoid that nightmare.
The only reason Bethesda Launcher existed is to "flex" on early releases and exclusives. Competition and innovation was never in the picture.
Yep it was awful. As a QC player myself i can confirm that every update meant redownloading the entire game from scratch. It's like they were stuck in the 2000's where no one used delta patches.
I too got QC tranferred to Steam tho i forget the exact process. Also there was some confusion in Steam regarding the achievements. Steam started counting them from 0.

Also compared to Steam BNL was a resource hog. I remember one time running a test and recording the numbers. I deleted this data a few weeks back but one of my old posts still had it:
BNL:
Mem: 814MB
CPU: 15s

17-10-2018, 22:45:06 QuakeChampions.exe benchmark completed, 8710 frames rendered in 73.398 s
Average framerate : 118.6 FPS
Minimum framerate : 100.1 FPS
Maximum framerate : 165.0 FPS
1% low framerate : 91.9 FPS
0.1% low framerate : 34.6 FPS

Steam:
Mem: 318MB
CPU: 6s

17-10-2018, 22:52:29 QuakeChampions.exe benchmark completed, 8640 frames rendered in 72.540 s
Average framerate : 119.1 FPS
Minimum framerate : 103.1 FPS
Maximum framerate : 165.0 FPS
1% low framerate : 91.9 FPS
0.1% low framerate : 36.2 FPS
BNL used about twice as much CPU time and RAM compared to Steam. These numbers dont include the slow startup times of BNL either. Steam launches 3 times faster. Also the performance was a bit lower in terms of fps. What really annoyed me about it tho was the UI lag in BNL. You would think that with the resource usage it would be snappy but it was the opposite. Bafflingly incompetent design.
 
Top