2K removes its pointless launcher from Civilization 6, while also announcing that Civilization 7 players will never have to suffer launching the game twice for no reason
Idk if this is “a reason” but leaving the launcher running without actually playing the game does count as playtime for steam, which may result in folks not being able to refund it if they don’t like it, and increases overall hours played.
Whether that’s part of why these games have useless launchers, or whether those things actually pan out that way, who knows.
That's just a by-product of how Steam works. Playtime is counted as long as the Play button says "Stop".
For games without DRM (e.g. KSP), you can launch it from the Steam install folder without Steam running. Everything works perfectly but your playtime won't be counted for the same reason.
I don't think that's part of why they do it. I'm an avid civ 6 fan, and I can say that the launcher is pretty unobstructive. Between launching from steam and launching from the 2k launcher, it takes about a minute. It's likely to collect data, but honestly the only useful data they'd get is the pc hardware, the length of play, and common mods. 2k probably saw that they weren't getting sellable data and decided to scrap the idea, honestly it's probably the only decent thing the company has done in years.
Maybe, but for Civ 6 specifically the launcher came out a few years into the game's lifespan, so I'm not sure they were doing it for whatever marginal revenue benefit that would be. I imagine selling DLC without Steam or whatever storefront getting a cut might be a motivating factor.
The fact I can't play civ6 without accepting changed terms means I won't pay for civ 7 or buy any dlc. for a game I play by myself, that I've owned since launch, and 2k have removed my ability to play any more is just the fucked thing about modern games
Any single player game that doesn't work at all without an internet connection can't be said to be owned either, at least this way it's always playable
The launch option menu similar to below fulfilled the purpose of the 2k launcher and more. The launcher only served to waste our time. I hope rockstar games will get rid of their launcher too for GTAV.