Owlcat Games has completely removed a newly implemented launcher from Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, following intense player backlash. The studio's launcher, which was intended to serve as a centralized hub for news and updates across Owlcat's titles, lasted less than 20 hours.
Introduced on a recent patch, the Owlcat Launcher was advertised as a convenient space to aggregate information, eliminating the need for players to search across multiple platforms for game news and announcements. The studio stated that the launcher was designed to be unobtrusive, requiring no mandatory registration and not collecting player data. It was also claimed that the launcher could be entirely turned off.
However, player reception was overwhelmingly negative, with complaints quickly surfacing on the Rogue Trader subreddit and Steam forums. A significant issue arose when players discovered that attempting to close the launcher did not fully deactivate it. Instead, it continued to run in the background. This hidden process impacted Steam's game time tracking, as the game reportedly stopped recording playtime if the launcher was not detected as active.
Owlcat community manager Starrok acknowledged the issue, explaining that the background process was implemented as a workaround for the playtime tracking problem. Starrok stated they were not informed about this specific implementation and would work with the team to find an alternative solution. "I know VERY well how that looks, and unfortunately I was not informed about this change," Starrok wrote.
The studio's ultimate decision was to entirely revert the game to its previous patch, effectively removing all changes related to the launcher. "We are Rolling Back the Launcher," an announcement read. "The game will now revert to the previous patch, completely removing any Launcher-related changes. Thank you for your feedback, and genuinely sorry for the frustration caused." This move appears to have satisfied the player base.
This incident is not the first time Owlcat Games has faced significant player opposition regarding its implementation choices. In 2023, fan outcry prompted the studio to remove a data-gathering tool from Wrath of the Righteous. The brief lifespan of the Owlcat Launcher, approximately 19 hours, highlights the studio's responsiveness to community feedback, though it also raises questions about the initial decision-making process for such features.