2K Games removes its launcher from all of its PC games on Steam and Epic

There was a time when every major publisher decided that its PC releases would require signing into and using a custom launcher, which would still be required even if you purchased and wanted to play a game on Steam or the Epic Games Store.

2

Outside of having more things minimized to your system tray, additional launchers are often buggy and bloated - case in point: the 2K Games launcher.

Well, there's good news: 2K Games has announced that its launcher "has been removed from every game that used it on Epic and Steam," meaning you can play games like Bioshock Remastered, Bioshock 2 Remastered, Bioshock Infinite, The Quarry, the Mafia Trilogy Definitive Edition games, and Marvel's Midnight Suns without having to go through the 2K Launcher.

Other affected titles include Civilization VI, Civilization V, XCOM 2, and XCOM: Chimera Squad. Some XCOM games are special cases as they now include a Mod launcher as an optional feature for Mods and add-on content.

2K notes that your save files won't be affected by the change and that the publisher has no plans to bring back the 2K Launcher - so we can all breathe a sigh of relief. This is an excellent move on behalf of 2K, as there was no real need for a separate launcher for its games other than to add an additional service you needed to log into and authenticate before being able to play a game.

Those looking forward to Civilization VII's February 2025 launch will be pleased to know that you can jump right into the action regardless of whether you purchase the game.

And now, we wait for Ubisoft Connect and EA App to follow suit.

• Read more: Steam Autumn Sale - The best PC Game deals for Under $10 and $5
• Read more: PS5 handheld prototyped by Sony, capable of playing console games natively
• Read more: NVIDIA DLSS comes to Void Crew, a new co-op roguelite, and War Thunder gets ray-tracing