In my opinion when I buy a game on Steam then Steam is the first party launcher for me.
Doesn’t matter if the game is developed/published by EA, Rockstar, Ubisoft, or whatever.
I’m paying money to Steam, I’m getting game files from Steam, that makes it first party launcher.
Other companies are taking advantage of their role as developer/publisher to insert their own launcher to force me to create an account on their service.
But on Reddit (🤮) I see people calling Steam as third party launcher.
Am I wrong or redditors are wrong?
Well, I was hoping pointing out something inconsistent with what you said would help, but it did not. To be blunt about your original question, you’re wrong. The developer is always the first party. They may have their own launcher or use a third party launcher like Steam, Origin, Epic, etc. It’s nicer for the consumer when they use a third party launcher because then you can just launch right into the game.
Inconsistent? Most PC games in physical shops are just keys that you need to redeem somewhere.
Not from customer’s point of view.
From a customer’s point of view everything is third party because they didn’t make shit.
That’s a perspective to have, but I’m telling you that’s not how most people are going to use the term. That’s why I made the analogy to retail stores. Back when buying a PC game at a store gave you the actual game, no one considered the store the first party. You’re just using them to buy what you want. The first party is what you actually purchase. The store my also make their own stuff. That’s extremely common these days, I’m talking places like Home Depot and Walmart, not Gamestop.
Moving to digital made have made the dynamics a bit different, but first and foremost, you’re still buying stuff from a store. And many of these stores also make their own stuff: Valve, Epic, EA, etc.
From a customer point of view steam is a third party…
Third party means literally anything that isn’t you.
Its context sensitive. Do you understand how English and third person works…?
Steam is a third party from the consumer perspective because valve is not the consumer.
Literally replace the word “third party” with “them” and first party with “me/myself/I”