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?
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.