> * Just works

I don't game very often, but the way Steam "just works" can't be understated enough.

It's not perfect. I've run into weird bugs occasionally, though they were likely the fault of a specific game.

However, it's miles ahead of other game launchers I've dealt with. I'm a casual gamer, so if I end up fighting the game launcher and update mechanism for more than a few minutes, I'm just going to give up and do something else. Steam has come as close as I've seen to streamlining that experience for me.