In my opinion when I buy a game on Steam then Steam is the first party launcher for me.
Doesn’t matter if the game is developed/published by EA, Rockstar, Ubisoft, or whatever.
I’m paying money to Steam, I’m getting game files from Steam, that makes it first party launcher.
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.
But on Reddit (🤮) I see people calling Steam as third party launcher.
Am I wrong or redditors are wrong?
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).
Oh, plenty. Lutris, Heroic, even Steam.
A launcher which is forced upon users after the transaction.
That’s not where I paid for the game. That’s not where I got the game files. It just popped up, asking for an account when I launched the game.
From customer’s point of view, I did my whole transaction on steam. Why should I care who published the game?
Unlike movies or music streaming, digital game distribution is complicated with a lot of moving parts so I understand many people have different opinions about it.
For example: If I bought a bundle on Fanatical then it is a first party seller and steam is a first party launcher (assuming those are steam keys). Otherwise steam is both a first party seller and launcher since that is where I buy games.
Even if it is NFS (published by EA which has their Origin store) I don’t care about that. I’m paying for a steam key. There shouldn’t be Origin launcher popping up when I click play.
If you bought a game at a brick and mortar store but had to sign into an account from the developer after installing, is that now a third party launcher? After all, it has nothing to do with where you purchased your game.
No. I clearly mentioned this scenario in another comment. If the game needs activation on Steam then it is the first party. If it needs activation on UPlay, then that is first party.
Well, I was hoping pointing out something inconsistent with what you said would help, but it did not. To be blunt about your original question, you’re wrong. The developer is always the first party. They may have their own launcher or use a third party launcher like Steam, Origin, Epic, etc. It’s nicer for the consumer when they use a third party launcher because then you can just launch right into the game.
Inconsistent? Most PC games in physical shops are just keys that you need to redeem somewhere.
Not from customer’s point of view.
From a customer point of view steam is a third party…
Third party means literally anything that isn’t you.
Its context sensitive. Do you understand how English and third person works…?
Steam is a third party from the consumer perspective because valve is not the consumer.
Literally replace the word “third party” with “them” and first party with “me/myself/I”
From a customer’s point of view everything is third party because they didn’t make shit.
That’s a perspective to have, but I’m telling you that’s not how most people are going to use the term. That’s why I made the analogy to retail stores. Back when buying a PC game at a store gave you the actual game, no one considered the store the first party. You’re just using them to buy what you want. The first party is what you actually purchase. The store my also make their own stuff. That’s extremely common these days, I’m talking places like Home Depot and Walmart, not Gamestop.
Moving to digital made have made the dynamics a bit different, but first and foremost, you’re still buying stuff from a store. And many of these stores also make their own stuff: Valve, Epic, EA, etc.