4 ms·

> Same for me, I don’t want 5 blasted stores on my iPhone. I want one store and run by someone I trust. The individual stores thing is actually really annoying

> Same for me, I don’t want 5 blasted stores on my iPhone. I want one store and run by someone I trust. The individual stores thing is actually really annoying. If you play games on Windows you're familiar with this situation. They all want to run 24/7 and cram their UI in your face at every opportunity, and you just want to play that publisher's one game. They are trying to become chat apps, and web browsers, and it's just crazy. I think my computer will explode if it sees one more web page wrapped in a "start at login" script claiming to be an "app store" or "game launcher". (Why can't these things just let me "chocolatey install" them? I know how to keep Windows apps up to date. Just accept my credit card number from inside the app. Or, horrors, a web page.) On Windows, the underlying cause of this is "because we can". Everyone that wants a game will install an app store to get it from without thinking, because the one Microsoft offers is too limited. (They don't use Steam because it's run by a direct competitor, and Steam games kind of have that feeling like there are 3 good games in there next to 100,000,000 "I downloaded Unity this weekend, give me money!" games.) Where I'm going with this rant is that unlimited freedom is the worst form of app distribution -- except for all the others. (I guess I have zero qualms with "go get". It works 100% of the time. Apps can't explode files all over my computer. Google provides a CDN for free.)

whatch 6y ago
There is GOG Galaxy[0], that is trying to gather all your games from different platforms in one place. However all platforms (except Steam) constantly disconnects from the Galaxy which is really annoying. I understand there can be a lot of reasons for this. But I like to think that those emerging platforms simply do not want being accessed from the Galaxy. For this reason I prefer buying games from GOG and Steam when possible. Also, to install games from those 3rd party platforms one still needs to install and launch those platforms. So this limits usefulness of the Galaxy. [0]: https://www.gog.com/galaxy https://www.gog.com/galaxy
- Errsher 6y ago
  It's just like technology standards. https://xkcd.com/927/ https://xkcd.com/927/
  - whatch 6y ago
    Sometimes it looks like this. But in some sense unlike this new "standard" previous 14 standards don't really cover "all use cases". Only the app from GOG shows games from other platforms, that's why I prefer to launch everything from there because when I launch my windows rig on weekends no chance I remember where I bought that game.
- kroltan 6y ago
  I don't have problems with disconnections on Galaxy, the only probem is that you still need the third-party stores at all on your computer.
  - whatch 6y ago
    Maybe the real reason of disconnects in my case is that I log in once a week or even less often.
- Wowfunhappy 6y ago
  If there's one thing I don't understand about other PC gamers, it's why any of them want to use these stores in the first place. Whenever possible, I buy from GoG, but not because I want to use Galaxy. With GoG, I just download an exe, run the installer, and my game appears in this wonderful launcher called The Freaking Start Menu. It's great. What do I get from using a client? I don't want my games to be integrated into a social network, I just want to play them, and not be interrupted until I'm done. ------ My second choice after GoG is usually itch.io, but my third choice is actually becoming EGS. I'm not sure if this was intentional, but a significant portion (maybe even a majority?) of EGS games don't actually need EGS to run. You can download them with an open-source tool like https://github.com/derrod/legendary https://github.com/derrod/legendary, back up the files, and run them. I've personally done this with Journey, Beyond Two Souls, Control, and Detroit. A handful of Steam games allow this too (one recent example is Ori and the Will of the Wisps), but it's much less common than on the Epic Store!
  - mikewhy 6y ago
    For me, most everything is run through Steam. Steam games, games from GoG/EGS/Origin/GamePass, emulators, all that. Big picture mode, controller mapping, remote play, and remote play together are amazing. Not sure what's so hard to understand. You mention downloading, installing, and revel that it's in your start menu. And don't mention updating. With launchers, there's one less step (installing), and updating is a passive thing (for better or worse). And yup, they're placed in the start menu as well.
    - CarbyAu 6y ago
      Big Steam user here and I agree with you on the updates thing. However this aspect has more or less value depending on what you play and when. Single player games purchased a year after release likely never need to be patched ever again. Unfortunately AAA games with multiplayer et al seem to need to be patch immediately upon release...
  - whatch 6y ago
    > What do I get from using a client? Recently I've started using OS search to launch apps on my Ubuntu workstation. One day I've tried the same with game launched. When you have extensive libraries on multiple platforms it definitely helps. Also some clients support achievements. It adds incentives (or meaning, if you will) to play some good game even after completion of campaign or something like that. Yep, not for everyone. BTW, you can download and install games from Steam using official console client [0]. Not sure if will allow to play [all] games, though. I had limited experience with that. I managed to download windows versions of doom and quake 2 for Oculus Quest from Ubuntu. [0] https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SteamCMD https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SteamCMD
awinder 6y ago
> “ If you play games on Windows you're familiar with this situation. They all want to run 24/7 and cram their UI in your face at every opportunity, and you just want to play that publisher's one game.” Yes, thank you! In fact Epic is one of the worst of these stupid stores about blasting you with corner-of-screen advertising even when you’re doing nothing with it.
Phrodo_00 6y ago
> They don't use Steam because it's run by a direct competitor Not sure about this. Does valve even make games anymore? /s
- Kipters 6y ago
  Not really, but their store competes with Epic's one :D
Waterluvian 6y ago
It sounds like the real complaint is “the store needs to be running to use software I purchased from it.” Which is much worse than the mobile environment. But you could still have more choice and not require the store to be running to use. Imagine being able to go to epic games website and click “download game” and get a phone pop up “do you want to install X?” There’s positively no need for a “store” at all.
- the_af 6y ago
  This. So much this. It kills me that people are no longer familiar with simply buying and downloading games. GOG and Humble Bundle work like this on Linux (though GOG has an optional Galaxy app). You login to a website, buy and download.
  - sjs382 6y ago
    Humble Bundle works like this on Android too. You just need to enable apps from unknown sources.
- DangitBobby 6y ago
  Yep, this is basically a complaint about DRM. Do apps typically have their own DRM setups or are they using software baked into the play store?
  - TeMPOraL 6y ago
    They could do DRM and all the other store stuff by linking against publisher-provided DLL. This is about an upsell opportunity - the store is there to ensure their offers are in your face whenever you want to play.
- reissbaker 6y ago
  You could do that if Epic wanted you to be able to do that. Nothing on Android prevents it; in fact, that's how you install the Epic Game Store: you go to their website and download an APK. You'll have to click through some permission screens, and then you're done: the APK is installed on your phone and can be launched like any normal app, no Play store required. Epic chooses not to do that, because they want you to run their store. But Google doesn't prevent you from doing it; Epic just chooses not to allow you to.
jchw 6y ago
I agree 100%, although I will give Steam some credit: when it launched it was universally maligned, but with enough work it became probably the digital storefront people are most loyal to, and for some justifiable reasons; and it passes the most important test: many prefer it to piracy. Go get is weird. I guess it’s still federated even with GOPROXY as a middleman, but I am still not sure how I feel about all of it. It makes sense from the perspective of ensuring things don’t maliciously break, but it feels less obvious what it’s doing than I’d hope, and that probably makes many uneasy.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

whatch 6y ago

There is GOG Galaxy[0], that is trying to gather all your games from different platforms in one place. However all platforms (except Steam) constantly disconnects from the Galaxy which is really annoying. I understand there can be a lot of reasons for this. But I like to think that those emerging platforms simply do not want being accessed from the Galaxy. For this reason I prefer buying games from GOG and Steam when possible. Also, to install games from those 3rd party platforms one still needs to install and launch those platforms. So this limits usefulness of the Galaxy. [0]: https://www.gog.com/galaxy https://www.gog.com/galaxy

Errsher 6y ago
It's just like technology standards. https://xkcd.com/927/ https://xkcd.com/927/
- whatch 6y ago
  Sometimes it looks like this. But in some sense unlike this new "standard" previous 14 standards don't really cover "all use cases". Only the app from GOG shows games from other platforms, that's why I prefer to launch everything from there because when I launch my windows rig on weekends no chance I remember where I bought that game.
kroltan 6y ago
I don't have problems with disconnections on Galaxy, the only probem is that you still need the third-party stores at all on your computer.
- whatch 6y ago
  Maybe the real reason of disconnects in my case is that I log in once a week or even less often.
Wowfunhappy 6y ago
If there's one thing I don't understand about other PC gamers, it's why any of them want to use these stores in the first place. Whenever possible, I buy from GoG, but not because I want to use Galaxy. With GoG, I just download an exe, run the installer, and my game appears in this wonderful launcher called The Freaking Start Menu. It's great. What do I get from using a client? I don't want my games to be integrated into a social network, I just want to play them, and not be interrupted until I'm done. ------ My second choice after GoG is usually itch.io, but my third choice is actually becoming EGS. I'm not sure if this was intentional, but a significant portion (maybe even a majority?) of EGS games don't actually need EGS to run. You can download them with an open-source tool like https://github.com/derrod/legendary https://github.com/derrod/legendary, back up the files, and run them. I've personally done this with Journey, Beyond Two Souls, Control, and Detroit. A handful of Steam games allow this too (one recent example is Ori and the Will of the Wisps), but it's much less common than on the Epic Store!
- mikewhy 6y ago
  For me, most everything is run through Steam. Steam games, games from GoG/EGS/Origin/GamePass, emulators, all that. Big picture mode, controller mapping, remote play, and remote play together are amazing. Not sure what's so hard to understand. You mention downloading, installing, and revel that it's in your start menu. And don't mention updating. With launchers, there's one less step (installing), and updating is a passive thing (for better or worse). And yup, they're placed in the start menu as well.
  - CarbyAu 6y ago
    Big Steam user here and I agree with you on the updates thing. However this aspect has more or less value depending on what you play and when. Single player games purchased a year after release likely never need to be patched ever again. Unfortunately AAA games with multiplayer et al seem to need to be patch immediately upon release...
- whatch 6y ago
  > What do I get from using a client? Recently I've started using OS search to launch apps on my Ubuntu workstation. One day I've tried the same with game launched. When you have extensive libraries on multiple platforms it definitely helps. Also some clients support achievements. It adds incentives (or meaning, if you will) to play some good game even after completion of campaign or something like that. Yep, not for everyone. BTW, you can download and install games from Steam using official console client [0]. Not sure if will allow to play [all] games, though. I had limited experience with that. I managed to download windows versions of doom and quake 2 for Oculus Quest from Ubuntu. [0] https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SteamCMD https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SteamCMD

awinder 6y ago

> “ If you play games on Windows you're familiar with this situation. They all want to run 24/7 and cram their UI in your face at every opportunity, and you just want to play that publisher's one game.” Yes, thank you! In fact Epic is one of the worst of these stupid stores about blasting you with corner-of-screen advertising even when you’re doing nothing with it.

Phrodo_00 6y ago

> They don't use Steam because it's run by a direct competitor Not sure about this. Does valve even make games anymore? /s

Kipters 6y ago
Not really, but their store competes with Epic's one :D

Waterluvian 6y ago

It sounds like the real complaint is “the store needs to be running to use software I purchased from it.” Which is much worse than the mobile environment. But you could still have more choice and not require the store to be running to use. Imagine being able to go to epic games website and click “download game” and get a phone pop up “do you want to install X?” There’s positively no need for a “store” at all.

the_af 6y ago
This. So much this. It kills me that people are no longer familiar with simply buying and downloading games. GOG and Humble Bundle work like this on Linux (though GOG has an optional Galaxy app). You login to a website, buy and download.
- sjs382 6y ago
  Humble Bundle works like this on Android too. You just need to enable apps from unknown sources.
DangitBobby 6y ago
Yep, this is basically a complaint about DRM. Do apps typically have their own DRM setups or are they using software baked into the play store?
- TeMPOraL 6y ago
  They could do DRM and all the other store stuff by linking against publisher-provided DLL. This is about an upsell opportunity - the store is there to ensure their offers are in your face whenever you want to play.
reissbaker 6y ago
You could do that if Epic wanted you to be able to do that. Nothing on Android prevents it; in fact, that's how you install the Epic Game Store: you go to their website and download an APK. You'll have to click through some permission screens, and then you're done: the APK is installed on your phone and can be launched like any normal app, no Play store required. Epic chooses not to do that, because they want you to run their store. But Google doesn't prevent you from doing it; Epic just chooses not to allow you to.

jchw 6y ago

I agree 100%, although I will give Steam some credit: when it launched it was universally maligned, but with enough work it became probably the digital storefront people are most loyal to, and for some justifiable reasons; and it passes the most important test: many prefer it to piracy. Go get is weird. I guess it’s still federated even with GOPROXY as a middleman, but I am still not sure how I feel about all of it. It makes sense from the perspective of ensuring things don’t maliciously break, but it feels less obvious what it’s doing than I’d hope, and that probably makes many uneasy.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]