1. Games get updates far more often than they did back in the 90s and 00s. If your game is installed, it’s pushed to you automatically. If it’s not installed, the next time you install it, you’ll be on the latest version.
2. Installing a game is passive compared to inserting the next disc, fishing out the serial key, etc. You just click download and walk away for 5 minutes. Likewise, as games are very large these days, you can easily uninstall and reinstall games on limited drive space very easily from the same UI.
3. Cloud saves. They’re always nice to have. You can rig up something like it if you’ve got the networking and scripting know-how, but once again, it’s just passive through a launcher like Steam.
4. There’s a lot to be said about the longevity of network multiplayer games that allow you to self host and port forward, but Steam and its ilk mean that the average person never has to learn how to do that ever, and it’s more secure for the end users for Steam to take on the burden of facilitating the connection.
5. With things like Steam’s Big Picture Mode, you can navigate an entire library and jump from game to game with nothing but a controller.
6. Launching a game via Proton, whether in Heroic Games Launcher, Lutris, or Steam, is just easier and more automatic than not using a launcher.

All that said, there’s a lot of value to GOG for never requiring the launcher (but they make an annoying exception for network multiplayer games).

I never liked Steam when it was first released, it was problematic, slowed down my machine and caused me frustration.

Now it’s different. I agree with Gene Newell that piracy is a service issue, I haven’t pirated any games since steam started to fill its library with other non Valve games that I wanted.

I also appreciate the additional features that it brings like the community features and guides and managing updates for me.

It’s not perfect, nothing is, buy I prefer it to managing my own files and updates.

You think we want launchers?

I hated being forced to use Steam when it launched, after they shut down WON that was used for CS. I want as little applications running in the background 24/7 as possible.

Steam got better overall, making the 24/7 background application actually useful to keep running (controller support to control desktop, chats, notifications of sales, etc). Nobody else does that tho, and I definitely don’t want to use a different launcher for every fucking game/store.

All of my systems are Linux, launching Windows games on Linux is not trivial, Steam takes away almost all of that complication. It also provides an excellent ten foot interface for me to use on my TV and buy/install/launch games from my couch without any hassle. Speaking of controller usage, Steam provides excellent support to remap controllers even if a game doesn’t support it, and provide amazing features at that (for example multiple layers, gyroscopic mouse)

Games getting updated automatically is a great feature, I still remember having to download patches and applying them one by one after a fresh install. Similarly Steam also provides a workshop that allows you to install mods and keep them synced across different systems automatically.

Finally, the convenience of cloud saves for someone with multiple systems or who uninstalls a game and reinstalls it later is not easy to achieve without a launcher (I still have a saves folder backed up somewhere from before).

Besides all of that Achievement and other social features are important for some people. And for some games being able to easily play online with friends is amazing (if you’re not old enough to know what GameSpy is you don’t know what it was back then), although I don’t play too many online games so this one is not that important for me, but when I need that feature it is very handy.

In short there are many reasons, but if you’re playing old single-player games with mouse+keyboard on only one windows PC, then none of my reasons apply to you. Still I would argue that buying games on steam is easier than pirating them, so there’s the convenience factor still (e.g. at a friend’s house and they mention a game, open my phone, and in 5 min with a very intuitive flow I have the game downloading on my home PC so when I come back it’s ready to play).

Ease of use, manages updates and just keeps it all together.

My first PC games you had to exit windows and load the game thru DOS, it meant we learned how computers actually worked, but it was a hassle.

Out of all the features Steam offers, the most useful is probably just automatic updates. Much better than having to go check for an update myself and maybe even redownload the whole game every time instead of just the changes.

Also Steam Workshop, multiplayer (if it goes through Steamworks), controller fixes, screenshot and recording functions, chat, forums, etc.

I’m a steam and gog fan.

I use steam for the ability to plug in any controller I want and instantly be able to use it. I can download controller maps from the community on the fly.
I can stream straight to my TV and play in any room with a TV in it with zero effort. I can join my friends games with two clicks. Remote play allows you to play games you don’t even own with your friends. Works on linux. Integrated workshop. Easy modding.

I use gog for older games not on steam. Works on linux. (Heroic at least)

I could go on with steam, but those are the key points stands alone games don’t offer.

I played PC games since the early 90s, so I am well familiar with how things used to be before steam. And it was fine. I was hesitant to use steam at first, because like you say, I simply didn’t understand the point of it. Sometime after Valve released the orange box, that ended up being the first thing I bought on steam. And back then, some of the first things that I noticed about it was the ease of installing games, and the friends list that let me talk to and play games with my friends. I ended up getting really into team fortress 2, largely because I could play with people I knew, and we could even chat outside the game easily. It was easy to buy other games that these same friends were playing, and then enjoy a different game with them.

I got used to steam and it began to feel convenient, and at the same time, physical media started dying off. Steam let me easily install and uninstall any of my games whenever I wanted. I didn’t have to keep track of any physical media. I don’t have any of my old PC games from the 90s anymore. I have no idea where there went or how I lost them. But they are just gone. However, I still have every game I’ve ever bought on steam.

I’m not a heavy gamer anymore. If I see something I want, it’s easy to just put it on my wishlist and wait until it goes on sale at a price I think is reasonable. If I feel bored, I might open up my full list of games and browse for something to install. My game saves get backed up to the cloud. My controllers just work. Everything related to the gaming experience is integrated into one place, and I like that, it makes it easy. And for the most part, steam kind of just stays out of my way.

I like the ease of use and services Steam provides. The easy installs/reinstalls, cloud saves, the custom Notes are very useful for me, the library organization, some steam workshop stuff, the community hubs for games are fun shared content, the guides, the discussions, the reviews. All of it makes a nice experience. In general it’s also cheaper than console. Then they made Steam Deck which is possibly my fav console ever.

All the talk of games ownership and preservation overlooks the fact that I can play my first steam game today, while so many of my disks have been lost to time.

And let’s not forget how much bullshit came with those disks. DRM schemes up to and including root-kits. Serial # and activation codes. And don’t forget, though you had physical media, what you actually owned was a licence.

I resent the accusation that I need a launcher. I don’t.

I don’t. I was still buying physical releases and renting games from my local video stores until both things died out against my will.

Steam is convienent for the services they provide.

Since the USA is turning to shit, I try to buy from stores outside USA now so GOG is increasingly seeing more of my money. Let’s say Valve falls off or goes to shit after Gabe dies: I’m a skilled pirate so whatever.

Mostly I’m Ambivalent but kinda apathetic about launchers because I can just go and find whatever I potentially lose again elsewhere. A self educated privilege combined with grey morality I suppose. Or a resignation to an ever worsening reality I was born into without my say.

Its for DRM. The easiest way to check if you actually own the game is to have the game contantly ask whether its connected to the server. The server should have your payment info. If thats not found, your game isnt legit.

Thats why GOG is so good, their games dont have DRM. Meaning you (and pirates) have a BETTER version of the game. Let me repeat that, downloading an illegal copy gives you a better running version of the same game you mightve paid for, because it doesnt have to contantly talk to a server before the game will allow you to do anything.

When you pirate a steam game, youre also downloading a “fake” version of steam, a steam emulator. The way they break DRM for steam games doesnt remove the DRM, but it slightly reduces the issues DRM causes because the server it is communicating with is local and doesnt have to index user files. Your game just asks the steam emulator if its legit, the steam emulator doesnt check anything, it just says that whatever got checked was legit.

I mean steam adds a convenient way to keep your games up to date instead of having to manually patch them. I also was on the anti-steam bandwagon for the longest time until I finally gave in and decided to buy Modern Warfare 2 in 2010. I ended up repurchasing the rest of the Call of Duty games because it was so convenient not needing the discs and not having to locate patches.

Steam is the one launcher I don’t get pissed about having to use because it has so many value add features.

Unlike epic/origin/uplay

Not having a launcher is my requirement to buy a game lol

Good luck with that. I need it because I’ve fiddled with my screwdriver adjusting the cassette head position to load Scuba Diver on ZX Spectrum too many times.