It looks like game publisher Take-Two is saying goodbye to the unpopular 2K launcher: The upcoming strategy game “Civilization 7” doesn’t require the launcher, Take-Two announced in a post on Steam. The launcher was later removed from “Civilization 6” as well.
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The 2K Launcher is a program that “intermediates” itself before the actual game starts. Take-Two has previously used the launcher in several games that were published under the 2K Publishing label. It will also be accessed if the game was purchased through an external platform such as Steam.
Such launchers generally have a bad reputation among players because they represent a really unnecessary intermediate step to start the game and are often filled with advertising. Such launchers often require additional logins as well.
2K Launcher and technical problems
The 2K launcher has also attracted attention in recent years due to technical problems. According to user reports, when “BioShock” was released on Steam, the launcher prevented the game from starting on the Linux platform – it is said to have also affected the Steam Deck.
The launcher in “Marvel’s Midnight Sons” was suspected of being responsible for performance problems during gameplay. At the time, several gaming magazines noticed frame rate improvements after disabling the 2K Launcher by launch command on Steam. Heise Online could not confirm these problems.
It is not clear from the Steam post why 2K abandons the 2K Launcher in “Civ 7.” However, the move does indicate that the launcher no longer has a future. Take-Two has not yet announced a release date for “Civilization 7.”
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