How would you rank game launchers and library managers in 2025?

[pascalizer]

Consider things like Playnite, Launchbox, GOG Galaxy, or Steam, Rockstar Games Launcher, Epic Games Store, etc.

I'd rank the library managers as:
1. Playnite
2. Launchbox
3. GOG Galaxy

Game clients as:
1. Steam
2. Epic Games Store
The rest is a hard to tell thing, i really dislike all of them.

 

[dxchase]

My list from the previous years hasnt changed. Steam is really the only one that has its stuff together (for the most part) to me imo. I dont really use any other launcher unless im gated by the game.

I can tell you which one is the worst though and thats rockstars and ubisoft coming in at a tie.

 

[JCgames]

What ever happened to good ol icons on the desktop. That's really all the management you need. Click and play.

Just put the icon of what ypu want to play on your desk top.

Now that i think about, no distractions that way, i should start using them more and keep the launch closed.

 

[Zloth]

Errr, Steam when the game comes from Steam, GOG when from GOG.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Game stores:
Steam
Gog
Xbox
EA
Ubisoft
Epic

Can't rate the libraries because I don't use one. As far as the store ratings, I see Epic as fully functional and nearly as good as GoG except for one thing: they lie about user ratings. As long as their user ratings are BS, they are last in my ratings.

 

[Frindis]

I see someone's been playing S.T.A.K.E.R. 2

Steam
GoG
Launchbox
Epic Games Launcher

 

[BeardyHat]

1. Steam
5. GoG
∞: Everything else.

GoG is obnoxious because it has a memory leak or something. If it's running and I put my computer to sleep, when I wake it back up, suddenly it's eating all my CPU.

Epic, EA, uPlay, etc all just stink. I use them rarely when I need them, but I'm always annoyed with little things they do. uPlay because it eats save files and functions poorly, EA because EA, Epic because it has lots of little annoying things I hate about it. If I go to my library, it has never cleared the last search term. If I click on an installed game, rather than going to the page for that game, it launches it instead. Same goes for installing games, if click the game because I want to look at the page for it, it instead tries to install.

I just find these little annoying things that stop me from really wanting to use other launchers.

 

[Pifanjr]

Steam and Epic are the only launchers I actually use to start a game. I do use GOG Galaxy, but only as an overview of all of my games, I don't use it to launch games. For all the other launchers I just use a shortcut on my desktop to launch the game.

 

[neogunhero]

Steam will forever be my favorite game launcher because all the same reasons others listed here. It just works and it works the best.

Epic would be my second pick. Not as robust with features as Steam, but the UI and responsiveness are good. It works well and the free games are a plus, but even not including that it's the closest competitor to Steam I'd say.

Third would be Xbox just because of it's UI and responsiveness as well. The app works pretty smoothly and has come a very long way since it was first released in ~2018. The only issue is that no one really wants to buy games there that are also available on Steam. The only reason you would do that is if you also play on an Xbox console frequently and the game supports Play Anywhere which is a cross-progression feature for certain games.

Fourth would be Ubisoft Connect/UPlay/whatever it's called these days. I personally don't have an issue with it, just disable the in-game overlay. It's not perfect by any means, the most annoying bug is that it logs me out of my account every month or two. The biggest issue is lack of anything that isn't a Ubisoft game.

I'd tie the EA app with Uplay as well because I also don't have much issues with it, even back when it was called Origin and people swore the devil himself made it. I remember there being so many people absolutely foaming at the mouth with hatred for the Origin app, I never had that big of an issue with it.

Besides this list, most other launchers don't give off enough of an impression for me to rank them. GOG is fine but I rarely ever use it. BattleNet is so barebones but functional that it's neutral to me. Rockstar Launcher pops up for a split second when launching GTA then disappears.

Either I'm incredibly lucky to not have these issues or I'm oblivious to them. I do get minor bugs and such with them occasionally but not to the extent that some people say. One thing I always tell people when playing a game on Steam that requires another launcher, always open that launcher and get signed in before starting the game, it will save a lot of headache in the future.

 

[neogunhero]

Dishonorable mention: Games For Windows Live. This launcher DID give me countless headaches and issues. I remember trying to play GTA 4 online with a friend of mine and it taking what felt like an hour just to join each others games. Lots of other games would force you to use it even if there wasn't a multiplayer mode. Batman Arkham Asylum was one of them AFAIK, forcing you to sign into a MS account to play the game or having to do some trick to bypass it.

As awful as GFWL was, in a strange way I look back at those times fondly. It was a brave new frontier Microsoft was charting, yet they messed up in every way possible, making it a spectacular failure.

 

[Zuruchon]

Steam remains the number one game store. My second choice is GOG because it offers many low-end games. For now, I have not had any reason to use other ones.

 

[Johnway]

So how do i rank the Game clients? here's how i rank the ones i use:


Steam - No surprises. its my main client with my biggest gaming collection.

GOG - it filled a niche, but more importantly the fair use of their games allowing them to be played offline. Plus they are doing more for gaming preservation then any other client. Big respects.

Epic - Whilst the exclusivity gives it the edge, the free games is what clinches it. The games on my steam wish list have appeared here and thus saving me money. But in some ways its a bit half baked in places compared to steam.

ubisoft - to be honest i don't think its that bad. Runs ok and The reward system was quite appealing either getting exclusive items or discounts. It does occasionally have a good deal, but beyond that i don't really shop here. plus its ubisoft and the prices are pretty steep at times. Some people have performance issues, but i've not encountered any that i would blame on the client. yet.


EA - The bottom of the pile. They updated it to something that just isn't very good. Its slow, its ugly and worst of all it doesn't work properly. Who knows, maybe it was half baked the last time i was using it.

 

[JCgames]

While i use steam the most, all work flawlessly. A simple click on any of them and the game lauches, never fail. I have zero clue why people have issues with any of them as far as buying and lauching a game. I never had a single issue with any of them launching or purchase any game on any platform.


Then agian every single game i play has people with issues of the game not working. Perhapsi just need to start a company selling magic computers that will lauch a game never fail.

Every comp I've ever built going back to me first p166 ive never had a game fail to work. 9 systems now. P166, cele 400 (oc to 800) amd 700 (ocd to 1ghz) amd 2600, 2800, 3200, intell 8600 duo, i5 3350, i5 10600.

I had two games that sound didnt work because of unsupported drivers. A couple old games now also only work on my win 2k system as for some reason i cant get them configed right. The old mech warrior games and mech commander. (so Retro win 2k system FTW!)


So my question for you all, am i magic?

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

While i use steam the most, all work flawlessly. A simple click on any of them and the game lauches, never fail. I have zero clue why people have issues with any of them as far as buying and lauching a game. I never had a single issue with any of them launching or purchase any game on any platform.


Then agian every single game i play has people with issues of the game not working. Perhapsi just need to start a company selling magic computers that will lauch a game never fail.

Every comp I've ever built going back to me first p166 ive never had a game fail to work. 9 systems now. P166, cele 400 (oc to 800) amd 700 (ocd to 1ghz) amd 2600, 2800, 3200, intell 8600 duo, i5 3350, i5 10600.

I had two games that sound didnt work because of unsupported drivers. A couple old games now also only work on my win 2k system as for some reason i cant get them configed right. The old mech warrior games and mech commander. (so Retro win 2k system FTW!)


So my question for you all, am i magic?

I remember having problems with some games in Windows ME, I had a prebuilt Duron 800 system then. At the time I didnt have the knowledge or the will to play around with stuff to fix it properly so it could have been the OS or the system itself. Probably both.

 

[JCgames]

I remember having problems with some games in Windows ME, I had a prebuilt Duron 800 system then. At the time I didnt have the knowledge or the will to play around with stuff to fix it properly so it could have been the OS or the system itself. Probably both.

I only used ME for a very short time like a few months i think. Then agian back in the late 90s i went throygh os like candy, 95-97 was 3.1 for good ol AOL, 95 on my first build in 97 then 98,98 se, ME, win 2k all by 2001. I was so happy when i got win 2k pro, no need for xp, win 2k was so solid and to me an even better os than xp as far as compatibility went. That reminds me, i gotta get a 2k system going again!

 

[Barukanen]

I am at a point of where I will not buy a game unless it is on STEAM, there is far too many launchers and clients now and I hate my library being all over the place.

 

[Zloth]

I am at a point of where I will not buy a game unless it is on STEAM, there is far too many launchers and clients now and I hate my library being all over the place.

I really wouldn't write off GOG. It isn't that hard to keep track of two. They are better at dealing with the old games and, when you buy a CDProjkt game, no middle-man is taking a cut.

 

[Zimbaly]

Steam isn't bad although I hate the interface of the store and searching for stuff now, but I can manage.

I do love GoG, not just cause it's easier for me, but I also like how it shows games on other platforms. Kinda a nice feature. I don't have tons of games on it, but I do love it.

 

[Zloth]

GOG's Fall sale is already going on, by the way. Even if you don't want to buy from them, the prices in the Steam sale tend to match what GOG has, so you can preview prices. Like the 3 rebooted Tomb Raider games bundle costing $11.60 USD, or the Phantom Liberty DLC still costing $21.

 

[Barukanen]

I really wouldn't write off GOG. It isn't that hard to keep track of two. They are better at dealing with the old games and, when you buy a CDProjkt game, no middle-man is taking a cut.

I get that it isn't that difficult, I'm just a bit weird when it comes to having split libraries. I don't know why, I am also not that phased on the older games, as I have managed to play most of what I wanted to growing up.

I can't see myself revisiting Tomb Raider to lock the butler in the freezer again.