this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2026
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Frankly, I despise all launchers, Steam included. The only reason it gets a pass is because it's one of the two somewhat reasonable ones, and the only one that makes gaming on Linux simple and convenient.
It's still slow, ugly as hell, and entirely unnecessary. Makes me want to pirate more, but then I'd have to set the games up from scratch.
The only use case for launchers is console gaming. It makes perfect sense on a Deck, Switch or a PS5. But absolutely no sense whatsoever on a desktop PC.
Again - Steam has features that make it tolerable (achievements, screenshot sharing, workshop, etc.), but I'd still prefer to just play my games without anything in the middle.
I think some games on steam you can just launch from the executable file. I rarely have, because my process is usually "open steam.. stare at list of games.. pick one", so steam is already open.
But yeah, at least it adds some value (proton magic, recording and screenshots, the overlay used to be real useful when i only had one monitor...)
Yep, launchers have always been a scam. Your launcher should be your operating system
My operating system can’t filter by specifics like “local co-op” or “anime titties” though.
I get how organization can be useful but if click game.exe on my OS homescreen it should open game.exe. Not a series of launchers and login screens before launching game.exe
game.exe
the end.
I like Steam as a launcher because I can organize my games
for games I know I want to play, pretty sure I've often just launched them directly. I don't remember, as I haven't played much on Steam lately, if it would then launch steam before launching the game.
it launches steam before launching the game
It's not though, there are a handful of game launchers for Linux. Faugus Launcher is a good lightweight one. I believe you can export the game as an icon as well so you don't even need to open the launcher first if you don't want to (haven't personally done this, but pretty due can).
I'll only use Steam for my non-Steam games if I need controller support since Steam Input is pretty awesome.
The correct take.
The only other laucher i dont have a problem with is warthunders launcher
Mostly because its what its needed any nothing more, games loading? Launcher automaticlly shutsoff (less then 1 megabyte) It doesnt need a login for the launcher itself
If its downloaded through steam you may never actualy know it even has a launcher