Damn what a bunch of closed- and simple-minded cynics here.
Really? You have a tiny developer like Nadeo, which despite being owned by Ubisoft, still has fewer than 20 people working for them. They've been tremendously successful for the last decade making an incredibly awesome arcade racer that provides more pure freedom for creative expression than most every single other game out there.
They want to expand that idea of pure creative freedom to a variety of games and genres - not just racing, but shooters and RPGs too - taking full advantage of what PC gaming is all about, creating an entire platform for multiple games, millions of user-created levels, with a single unified community all around it.
And you whiners cuss them out because it's not on Steam?
I fucking love Steam, and love what it's done for PC gaming as a whole, but for the love of god, it's not everything. It can't support everything, and in the case of Nadeo's vision for ManiaPlanet, it doesn't even support what they're trying to do.
It's not "just another fucking launcher". Nadeo actually has damn good reasons for doing things this way - they're creating the fucking definition of the creativity and freedom that PC gaming is about.
This times a thousand...
But Valve lackeys are not the end all,be all of PC demogfx.
In fact,...most people I know that game on PC,...never even use steam for anything...they also want a box.
That said,...TM is a great little franchise,..and anything new is aimed at the current users..no biggie.
If rFactor2 does this to keep track and mod makers in line,...and doesn't charge monthly for the privilege...I'd rave about it too.
Valve fans are
almost as bad as Apple zealots....walled garden is walled garden.