We just beat a PC gaming villain: 2K removes its pointless, game-breaking launcher from its entire catalogue

(Image credit: Firaxis Games)

Remember the 2K Launcher, the completely pointless bit of bloatware that got crammed into games like BioShock Remastered, Civ 6, Mafia, and XCOM 2? The one that straight-up broke certain games for some users and dinged performance in others? It's dead. Gone. Donezo. Never, god willing, to return.

2K announced the "complete sunset" of its extraneous launcher in a blog post yesterday, although it actually kicked in a few days prior. "As of November 18, 2024, the 2K Launcher has been removed from every game that used it on Epic and Steam," went the announcement, and "On November 25, a follow-up update was sent out via Steam to make sure the 2K Launcher was fully removed." 2K also says it has removed the "2K Launcher beta," a new and improved version of that garbage, from Civ 5.

I dream of a world in which every launcher only launches games, rather than other launchers, but doing away with 2K's thing is a decent start. There are some complications for certain now-launcherless 2K games, mind you. XCOM 2 was one of very few games to attach some functionality to the 2K Launcher—it handled mod support—so launching that game from Steam will now present you with options to launch either the "original" or "new" mod launchers—though you can also just launch the game directly if you're modless.

So hey, props to 2K for realising everyone hated its launcher and doing the right thing. It might have been better not to launch it at all, but life is a learning process. I did laugh at one of the removal announcements beginning with the phrase "All things must come to an end... and that includes our 2K Launcher." Pretty sure that saying is usually 'all good things,' but I suppose 2K couldn't quite bring itself to say it.

One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.