[nerdjon]

I never really understood this mentality, especially when on the console side people seem just fine with the idea of buying multiple consoles for exclusives. (not that I am agreeing with that either).

There isn't a cost to having multiple stores, you don't even need to keep them running at all time. I get the concerns over the Epic app, but Heroic exists.

Personally I have games on Steam, Xbox (cross buy between xbox and PC), Epic, and EA. Plus Game Pass.

The only annoying part is when I go to install or buy a game, finding where I have it or making sure I don't already own it somewhere. But there are launchers like Playnite to address that.

But it does feel like I am in the minority with this opinion.

[prepend]

For me, I don’t like launchers constantly updating and running at startup. Inevitably, they end up breaking something or popping up a modal when I’m trying to do something else.

I tolerate steam on my laptop because they were the first. I hate Epic and other launchers when I just want a game.

I will wait until it gets to steam. And have even skipped free games because I don’t want the mental load.

[philipov]

When you say "people do this" and "people also do that contradictory thing" you're making the mistake assuming that the word refers to the same people.

[nerdjon]

I didn’t mean to imply they were the same people.

But it is interesting that we have 2 groups of gamers.

One that is so used to and accepting of a practice to not only sometimes buy 2 nearly identical boxes to play exclusive games but also complain when one of them does the right thing and is ending the practice (see drama about Xbox).

One that complains about installing another piece of software with no cost.

Why do these 2 groups of gamers have very different opinions on this.

[romanows]

Software, especially if installed on my Windows PC, always has a risk of causing security problems, running spyware, agents that slow things down, taking up HD space, weird new DRM, screwing with the registry, etc.

[Systemmanic]

One reason I’ve heard is the stats and Achievements consolidation.

Cross play solves this somewhat but it’s not consistent.

PC is my main platform but I also have an Xbox (NHL games not available on PC), everything else is on Steam.

I wouldn’t buy a PS5 for an exclusive. TBH exclusivity is annoying and I don’t want to reward it.

[nerdjon]

> One reason I’ve heard is the stats and Achievements consolidation.

I have not seen that referenced much so I am curious how many people that is the reason vs just some weird loyalty to Steam.

But, as someone who is mostly a couch gamer so my console of choice is Xbox. I can see that, I have a PS5 but all of my cross platform games is Xbox.

I have my PC for a lot of games that I would prefer that setup (for me its a game by game decision), but with game pass and cross buy it already didn't make sense for me to go all in on steam, but some games are only on steam.

So what was the harm in adding other stores when it made sense.

> I wouldn’t buy a PS5 for an exclusive. TBH exclusivity is annoying and I don’t want to reward it.

I don't want to reward it. But I also view myself as a gamer first before any platform loyalties. If I want to play something, that takes priority. So annoyingly I have both under my TV.

rant I am so annoyed at the people complaining about Xbox going Multiplatform as if it isn't a good thing for consumers to not have to buy nearly identical hardware. I don't care that it is how the industry has ran for so long, it's still anti-consumer. end rant

[Systemmanic]

>I have not seen that referenced much so I am curious how many people that is the reason vs just some weird loyalty to Steam.

Yeah, probably a healthy mix. The achievement and stats consolidation is via word of mouth and conversation I have had over the years. I don’t have data to back that up. I’m sure the /r/pcmasterrace folk would have something to say about it though.

I totally agree with your rant. It’s ridiculous that folk want to complain about this.