Short answers — including when the answer is “no”.
An all-in-one program that brings the games you bought on several stores together into one library. Instead of opening Steam, then Epic, then GOG to find a title, you open a single app that shows everything and launches the game in the right store.
It is also called a unified game library, or a game library manager when the tool is mainly there to sort, filter and tag a large collection.
Yes. Everything this site describes is free: the app, the server at your place, the syncing, the console mode. No ads, no subscription, and no account to create with us — the only accounts that matter are your store accounts, which stay yours.
Paid options may be added later, for services that genuinely cost money to run — a server hosted by us, for instance, to reach your library from outside your home. They will stay optional: the free version will not be cut down to make room for them.
Eight PC platforms: Steam (family library included), Epic Games, GOG, Amazon Games, EA, Ubisoft Connect, Battle.net and Riot Games — the last of which asks for no account at all: its games appear as soon as its client is installed.
On top of that come three console libraries: Xbox, PlayStation Network and Nintendo.
Cloud gaming comes on top: games in your library that are playable on GeForce NOW and Amazon Luna are detected and launch straight from playR, with nothing to install.
Yes — and it is one of the things no other launcher does out of the box. Xbox (console and PC games), PlayStation Network and Nintendo each connect through an official sign-in window, and their games join the very same library as your PC stores.
Two limits worth knowing: Nintendo can only be connected from the desktop app, and does not expose playtime. On the Xbox side, playR brings back the games on your account, not the Game Pass catalogue your subscription entitles you to.
No, and that is not an oversight: playR only handles games bought from official stores. No emulators, no ROMs, no scanning of local files — that ground is outside its scope, and will stay outside.
If that is what you are after, LaunchBox and Playnite do it very well.
playR is made of a server, which holds the library, and a client, the app you open. On a single PC the Windows installer puts both in place at once: nothing to configure, and you never even need to know a server is there.
If you would rather run it elsewhere, the server is a Docker image: Synology NAS, CasaOS, Proxmox, Unraid, TrueNAS, Portainer…
Your library stays on your own machine. It is never copied to a server of ours, and every device has to be authorised once with a code before it can connect.
playR sends anonymous usage statistics — never your IP address, never an account identifier, never the contents of your library. They are announced during setup, listed in the settings, and turned off with a single switch.
No. playR goes through the platforms’ official sign-in windows, or through access tokens: you log in with them, and playR keeps no password.
Steam follows the same principle: its official sign-in, Steam Guard validation included, is what gives access to the family library. A second method exists if you prefer it, using your SteamID and a public API key — but it does not bring in the family library.
On a ROG Ally or any other Windows handheld, yes: it is a Windows PC, playR installs there like anywhere else, and the controller-driven console mode is exactly what that screen calls for.
On Linux and Steam Deck the server already runs (it is a Docker image), but the client app is Windows-only for now. A Linux client, built on Wine and Proton, is in the works. Until then, Heroic Games Launcher is the right tool for the job — and we say so plainly.
Yes: that is TV mode, a proper console mode. A full-screen interface driven entirely by controller — large cover art, carousels, game pages, sorting and filters — without ever touching the mouse. It works on the living-room TV just as well as on your PC monitor.
It adds two things you will not find elsewhere: a “What should I play tonight?” random pick, and a screensaver that turns your screenshots into a slideshow after a few idle minutes.
No. playR triggers the install and the launch through the official store that owns the game: nothing passes through us, and your games stay managed by their stores. When you own the same game on several of them, playR lets you pick which one to use.
As many as you like. Each device is authorised once with a code, then finds the same up-to-date library, with your ratings, your lists and your statuses. That is what sets playR apart from desktop launchers, which keep their library on the machine they are installed on.
Three things none of them does out of the box: a server of your own shared by all your PCs, a price comparison for your wishlists, and alerts when a game is being given away. On the other hand, playR is not open source, has no community extensions and does no retro.
Nine: French, English, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Russian and Japanese. Game pages follow the language you pick.