Hallelujah. I don't know why so many companies went down this route, particularly when it's not the likes of Ubisoft or whatnot with their own desire to half-ass the attempt at making their own Steam. My guess for its removal is to better support Steam Deck, perhaps?
Keeps users in their wallet garden. Marketers love shoving shit in users faces whenever they launch the game. Inside the game it's bad for. To advertise whatever other garbage there is, on their launcher they try to grab your attention for their other crap
But see, that's the thing. They're just as capable of putting those ads in game too. I definitely would have more visibility on the ads just at the title screen than I would on a launcher I'm clicking through as fast as humanly possible.
Some games include launchers for practical reasons. Launchers allow you to change settings before having the game up, for example, which can be nice. They also sometimes can do mod management, though this is less common. Paradox does mod management through the launcher, for an example of that.
Usually the launchers suck though and only slow things down, but you can also usually use an argument to skip them.
The game can collect data, if that's what they're after.
My theory is that it's all about advertising. It's another point of contact with the consumer, and another opportunity to make sure every new release is presented to every potential buyer.
Civ......7 is coming out???? Oh! Oh! So I guess I'm just going to need a time machine??? Is that it??? Because I'm an adult now!!! Working 6 damn days a week!!! Explain how I can just stop time, and spend 72 hours straight fighting off Gondi and his aggressive ass nukes!!! Explain that shit to me!!! Already work 16 hours a day 6 days a week! Now I gotta defend the world from nukes through politics, and science, and WE ALREADY KNOW WE'RE ALREADY GOING TO BUILD AN ARMY AND BLOW EVERYONE UP!!! WHY WE GOTTA DANCE THIS DANCE???
huffs......huffs.......huffs......
So how's everybodys day going? Ready for Thanksgiving? I sure am looking forward to relatives you only twice a year getting drunk and talking politics 3 weeks after the election! What could go wrong???
Hmmmmm.........maybe butter knives are the sharpest thing I should put on this table......