You are wrong. The company that makes the game is the first party. You are the second party. If the launcher wasn't made by the first party, then it is run by a third party.
this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2026
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Damn, now I need to write my own launcher, just to have the unique second party launcher
Huh. I guess you could consider GeForce Now a second party launcher.
So valve games are first party if played on steam hehe
This guy parties.
I would disagree. I think Steam's definition is reasonable. The launcher you are intentionally using (i.e. you bought the game there and initially launched it from there) is the first party. Any other launchers are third party.
Now, if you're looking at the game's product page on the publisher's website, that changes things. In that case, I'd say they're justified in saying something like "available on these third-party launchers: Steam, GOG."
Steam is a 3rd party launcher except in the case for Valve's own developed games. I don't think you really understand what 1st and 3rd party mean here.
steam is a third party launcher, unless youre playing a. valve published game.
steam launching a paradox game first launches the paradox launcher.
Steam is the third party launcher. Paradox is the first party launcher.
This post, man.
OP: “Am I wrong or is Reddit?”
Everyone: “You are wrong”
OP: “NO U”
Even on Steam pages of games like NFS and Assassin's Creed it says 'requires 3rd party account' so I'm pretty sure I'm right. 😎
That's because companies that arnt steam are third party to steam. And steam is third party to companies that arnt steam.
You might just be stupid and not know how the concept of context sensitivity works...
Literally only you thinks so. Everyone else thinks you’re an idiot.
Only me and Steam's legal team 😎
Everyone else can go fuck themselves.
Third party relative to Steam in those screenshots. Steam is a third party launcher relative to the developer of the game you wanna play, Valve notwithstanding.
Buddy, either you’re weakly trolling or your parents are biologically related.
Third party relative to Steam in those screenshots
Yeah you fucking idiot. That's what I'm saying. These launchers are inserting themselves in the process without any reason.
Go fuck yourself shitbrain.
What, then, is a third party launcher to you? How many launchers do you know of that allow you to launch games that you bought somewhere else? I can think of only that one Linux launcher I can't remember the name of. Maybe you would count GOG Galaxy, because you can add non GOG games to it, but I'm like 85% sure you can do the same thing on Steam.
I think that Steam IS a third-party launcher. It started as a first-party launcher for valve games. Nowadays, though, they (the third party) allow you (the first party) to buy and launch games from unrelated publisher and developers (the second parties).
How many launchers do you know of that allow you to launch games that you bought somewhere else?
Oh, plenty. Lutris, Heroic, even Steam.
Other companies are taking advantage of their role as developer/publisher to insert their own launcher to force me to create an account on their service
Friend, no one is forcing you do anything. Steam isn’t being “taken advantage of.” That’s how Steam sells you the game, and if Valve didn’t like it, they wouldn’t list the game in the first place.
You don’t like it? Don’t make an account, refund the game.
First Party title is the one who develops it. The Second Party is the Publisher/Distributor of the product. The First party can choose to Self Publish/Distribute, but that would make them still a First Party. The majority of professionally made games are Published or Distributed by third parties, often for partial or complete funding of the game while in development. The Third Party is the one who you typically buy a game from. But not only ones that you buy a game from. The other form of 'parties' comes from not the business side of things but from the consumer side. The deal is between you and who you buy the game from. That could be the developer but more typically is from a digital store like Steam, Epic, GOG, and so on. In that case Steam would be the First Party and you would be the Second Party and if you installed something like Playnite that would be a Third Party Launcher. Then further on you have the "Game Keys" route where the parties change again.
The whole thing is that the "First Party" and so on comes from contract law in businesses that bled into common usage especially with how common First, Second, Third Person was with video game characters point of view, although it is entirely different. Who is First or Third party is entirely based upon point of view and relativity which is why they actually spell out which is which and what they mean by it in the beginning of legal documents.
You've added a lot of false assumptions to make this overly complicated and wrong.
I've posted another comment explaining my opinion from consumer POV.