Key Takeaways
- 2K is shutting down its launcher for its entire lineup of PC games on Epic and Steam.
- BioShock, Civilization, Mafia, and more can now be played without having to go through 2K’s launcher.
- PC players are also understandably celebrating the launcher’s death, hoping that other publisher like EA and Ubisoft follow suit. We can dream.
If you ask PC players what exactly is the worst thing about gaming on their platform of choice, chances are you’ll get a lot of people telling you how much they loathe how many launchers are out there. EA, Ubisoft, Rockstar, and more all have their own dedicated launchers that PC players have to go through to play their games, and it can be a real pain in the neck, especially if they have technical problems.
Thankfully, it seems as though there’s now one less launcher for PC gamers to worry about, as BioShock and Civilization publisher 2K has announced it is closing down its own launcher, meaning the publisher’s entire lineup of titles no longer requires it. 2K announced this news via an official blog post earlier today, explaining that its launcher has now been removed from both Epic and Steam, along with further instructions on how to make sure it’s gone for good.
BioShock, Civilization, Mafia, And More No Longer Require 2K’s Launcher
It also details how certain games will be affected by the change, starting with the likes of the BioShock games, The Quarry, and Marvel’s Midnight Suns, all of which can now be played with the single click of a button on Steam and Epic. Mafia: Definitive Edition Trilogy, XCOM 2 and XCOM Chimera Squad require a little bit of tinkering to get sorted, while Civilization 6 had its launcher support removed earlier this year, so it remains unaffected.
Unsurprisingly, the death of the 2K launcher has been pretty well-received by PC players, sharing their “ding dong the witch is dead” memes on social media, while others (such as in this Reddit thread by Renegade_Meister) are calling on EA, Ubisoft, and Rockstar to start following 2K’s example and shutting down theirs too. There are also quite a few people happy that they can now play 2K games again without much hassle, with some claiming they’re going to dive into the Mafia and BioShock games as a result.
I wouldn’t go hoping that this means other big publishers will follow suit though, especially the likes of publishers such as Ubisoft that have gone to great lengths to set up their launchers and have cloud saves and such. We’ll just have to celebrate that there’s now one less launcher in the world, and one less barrier to entry to playing some fantastic games on PC. It’s a win-win for everyone, really.
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