Agreed - from a philosophical perspective it's distasteful for a company to be "successful" purely because they can "do underhanded business better" rather than

Agreed - from a philosophical perspective it's distasteful for a company to be "successful" purely because they can "do underhanded business better" rather than because they are genuinely providing a better product. If that was the sole criticism, I'd entirely understand and support it. I'm trying to understand the claim that exclusivity is "awkward" rather than the claim that it's morally distasteful. If the game-service is free, and if you can launch the game directly with a desktop icon, why is your life complexified by the fact that a different launcher is used "under the hood"? To be clear, I am not disagreeing with your points at all. I am asking about a different point.