OK, so....I kind of predicted this thing would happen sooner or later, and one of my examples for predicting who would have a launcher in the future was, surprise, Rockstar. Cause of course they would do that, and I even get the impression they would do that even without Take-Two as their big boss. They're that passionate about DRM, and anybody who played GTA V and IV know what I mean. For freck's sake, if your internet is unstable while V is loading, it sometimes interrupts to show you a black screen with text along the lines of "authentication required" until it verifies you threw the $60 or $30 on it, and even its offline mode only lasts for three days.
During installation,
it will install all of that stuff. When uninstalling it, you would uninstall both the Launcher and Social Games Club, which is there with the whole package because why not, your PC is Rockstar's PC and they are free to do what they wish with it.
Now, about the San Andreas copy...I didn't download it, not that I would need to, I have my physical copy that I found by coincidence last month, sold in a used bookstore as the game's City Guides (the manual basically) which had the disc with it. Was a bargain, and its DRM is only as intrusive as "insert disc," and if you use mods, there are downgraders for the Steam version on GTA Forums that you can just use.
Now from what I'm hearing over at GTA Forums, it seems you need an internet connection to run the thing, and modding is difficult because it consistently triggers the auto-update mechanism, and tells you your game is out of date and must be updated. I love Grand Theft Auto. But I would love someone to one-up them with a Grand Theft Auto of their own, offer it DRM-free, and make fun of Rockstar in every radio ad that plays. This is ridiculous. Why do they care if a game they barely even update is outdated?
Anyways, welcome to the launcher future everyone. You (not necessarily GOG users) praised and hailed Steam as a so called "savior" of PC gaming. Congratulations, you saved PC gaming by making it a lot more fragmented, a toxic wasteland of DRM. If you wonder why people prefer consoles or old PC games, here's the answer. Not like it changes anything of course, we'll all complain about the hell that is PC then happily install Steam for Half-Life 2, Epic for Borderlands 3 & Denuvo, Rockstar for GTA V, Battle.net for Overwatch, Origin for Battlefield V, Ubisoft for Far Cry 5, Discord for Exclusive Discord Game, and more.
Maybe we should have killed the Original Client at its inception rather than let it proliferate and overshadow us.
