I think there's not a lot of value in "launchers", at least to the end user. Like I might play a game for hours but spend at most a minute in the launcher.

I mean, I really appreciate how Steam Big Picture gives me a console like experience on my PC and how the Steam Deck works like a PS Vita or a Nintendo Switch. But really if I had to click on a desktop icon to play a game or find it the same way I find other applications on Windows, Mac or Linux, I'd just do it.

So I guess you could make a better launcher but there's only so much upside!

I'd say though it's a very San Francisco mindset to be obsessed with things like launchers: like wanting to have some space you can colonize to interpret everyone's experience. Next thing you know it is stuffed with ads and "discovery" in the store would be all about paid discovery, users would be trained that it's a terrible idea to go browsing for things in the store, like it is on Apple, etc.

I like this quote:

      Emmanuel Rosier, director of market intelligence at research and analyst 
      firm Newzoo told GamesRadar+ that "As long as Valve is independent and not a 
      publicly traded company," it looks impossible for Steam to be overthrown as the 
      de-facto PC gaming marketplace.

which points to Steam's ability to respect the gamer experienced because it's run by a gamer. Any company run by accountants is going to endanger that sweet 30% cut by eating the seed corn to get another 1%.