Is there a point in adding a non-Steam game to Steam?
Are there any advantages besides being able to launch the game from within Steam?
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Having everything in one launcher is nice, but the big advantage is that it will try to enable the steam in-game interface. This isn't always a good thing - you may want to disable it for some games if it makes them unstable. Launching non-steam games from steam will also display to your friends that you are playing that game. For me, this is a critical feature. It will not track your play time on that game, however. |
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The advantages (already mentioned) are that you can have all game shortcuts in one place, other people can see you playing that game and you have Steam overlay in-game. There are also some disadvantages. If you are downloading or updating a game on Steam launching the non-Steam game stops the download/update; this is the default behavior of Steam. Useful if you are playing a multiplayer game, but annoying if you are playing a single player game. But the main disadvantage is that not all games are compatible with Steam overlay. Just as example I can cite League Of Legends. If you try to chat during game the chat stoles the focus and you game does not get anymore key inputs; the only workaround in this case is Alt+Tab to desktop and than return to the game. |
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Having all your game library all in one place has the advantages of having only one launcher which can lead to a cleaner desktop. It has allows you to remember those older or indie games you don't play as often anymore. |
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