It is rather unusual in the gaming world to still offer a standalone launcher for one’s game in 2026. However, the developers of Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader want to score points with this measure.
What is this measure? According to a report by PCGamesN, the developers of the best RPG of Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader, have planned an interesting advertising measure for 2026.
In an announcement on Steam, the developers explain that many Pathfinder 2 players, according to their statistics, would like to play a similar game, but they are not finding their way to Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader.
That is precisely why the developers want to ensure with their own launcher that players switch from one title to another more easily by presenting some advertising prior to the launch.
Here’s more about the best game of Warhammer 40,000:
You reap what you sow
Will the launcher be mandatory? No, the developers know that launchers are still something players would prefer to eliminate even in 2026. Therefore, they are trying to placate the community in advance. They offer the option to set the games to start directly without a launcher through the launch options on Steam.
However, this method is basically an opt-out that, especially technically less savvy users may not find directly. Furthermore, the developers want to make the launcher “as seamless and easy as possible”. This means no one has to log in to access their own content.
If you do choose to log in, there are additional contents to discover, and you gain access to betas and game tests. Players who have signed up for the test of Warhammer 40,000 Dark Heresy must play the test through the new launcher.
How is the launcher being received? Despite the developers’ attempt to address some criticisms in advance and present the launcher as a positive extra measure, the comments are quite negative.
A user explains on Steam: “Do I understand this correctly: You want to force us to download a program that we might not want to use at all, and that takes up more space on our hard drives than your game needs, just so you can push advertising for other products on us?”
Another user predicts that the launcher will be seen as a mistake in 5 years and will be removed again. One player suggests that the developers could build in a mod launcher there that makes using a launcher more attractive. However, whether such a feature is planned for the future remains open.
Launchers are one of the most unpopular features among gamers, primarily because they often do not add any value. That the developers of Owlcat are opting for this precisely in 2026 seems unusual. Whether this measure will be successful remains to be seen. Another company has said goodbye to its own launcher in 2025: A publisher finally gives up, removes annoying feature from its games on Steam and Epic Games
