I really wish Steam would put their foot down and stop these launchers. They are nothing but a nuisance and add no value for the customer.

Steam having a monopoly is not a good thing for anyone. Competition is good, even if the other launchers are a bit annoying.

Yeah but like, launcher isn't a market. Game Store is the market they're in. I'll happily buy a game from a different store if thats the only place it's offered or even if it's just cheaper there. The annoyance is when they want to be Steam. I don't want to be forced to download another launcher to play a game. If you want what Steam has, create a launcher that offers better services than Steam.

But most games aren’t DRM-free, so the launchers are necessary to verify your account and ownership of the game. Otherwise every store would be GOG, and most publishers won’t use it.

Steam already does that verification.

Yeah, but why should Steam be the only game in town? That’s a very dangerous monopoly.

There’s plenty of others. GoG and Humble come to mind as the major alternatives.