Steam app opens when I launch a game. How to stop it?

[Norwegian Blue]

As the title says: since its pointless update (from a user perspective at least), the Steam app opens when I launch a game. I find it unnecessary and unpleasant. When I want to open the app, I can do it myself, thank you very much.

I haven't been able to find a setting to suppress this behavior. Does anyone know a trick?

[Makam]

What are you talking about?!
You can't run anything without Steam app running too.

[KIRYUking]

I'm joining, regarding launching the game with steam already running in the sense that steam is maximizing from the tray as if it was launched directly from its own hotkey, not with the game. this is extremely annoying, disturbing and causing some problems. And that's probably what the author meant.

[Norwegian Blue]

Before, launching a game from a shortcut wouldn't open the steam client, at least not its window. Now, the window opens first, screaming ads in my face.

[DayLight]

You my friend have the exact opposite problem I have.

Steam client closes when I start a game, making my game crash and unplayable.

[Tito Shivan]

Originally posted by Norwegian Blue:

Before, launching a game from a shortcut wouldn't open the steam client, at least not its window. Now, the window opens first, screaming ads in my face.

For the 'Screaming ads': https://imgur.com/a/LpnB5mZ

[RiO]

Originally posted by Tito Shivan:

Originally posted by Norwegian Blue:

Before, launching a game from a shortcut wouldn't open the steam client, at least not its window. Now, the window opens first, screaming ads in my face.

For the 'Screaming ads': https://imgur.com/a/LpnB5mZ

FWIW; there's been at least one person already who had those ads pop up regardless of having that option disabled. It's broken. Like so many other things in this prematurely launched piece of alpha software.

[Tito Shivan]

Originally posted by RiO:

FWIW; there's been at least one person already who had those ads pop up regardless of having that option disabled. It's broken. Like so many other things in this prematurely launched piece of alpha software.

Without knowing the particular case I'd try enable it, saving and quitting steam and then disable it again. It's not the first time during a big update that Steam doesn't notice of the client local settings and one has to be a bit stubborn to have it notice.

Also I'd check I don't have the client installed on any other device, As Steam loves to make a mess of their settings when you run Steam in more than one computer.

[NotNewWink]

Originally posted by KIRYUking:

I'm joining, regarding launching the game with steam already running in the sense that steam is maximizing from the tray as if it was launched directly from its own hotkey, not with the game. this is extremely annoying, disturbing and causing some problems. And that's probably what the author meant.

agreed

[TheUnderBaker16]

SOLUTION:

Top thread on this post has the solution :) https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/dbohal/how_can_i_start_up_steam_minimized/

[Minor_Edit]

Originally posted by TheUnderBaker16:

SOLUTION:

Top thread on this post has the solution :) https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/dbohal/how_can_i_start_up_steam_minimized/

That's not really a solution as it requires steam to run on startup. The whole thing is that steam used to be able to launch silently in the background when you start a game that launches it (as anyone logically looking to play a game would want it to). It's stopped doing that.

[zaltocleotl[Banned@Paradox]]

You can't. Not without a certain hack that will get me banned for even mentioning it here.
What you can do is tell your firewall to block all Steam and Paradox programs from any and all internet access. That way the store loads with the old stock images and no playing videos or sounds. Nice and smooth and fast and QUIET!
Go ahead and start your game, and then use TaskManager to see what is running. Then open your firewall program and make outgoing and ingoing rules to block all the Steam and Paradox programs that run when you play your game. You may have to do this two, three, even more times, because Steam puts it's webhelper program into at least three different places on your computer so it can have one no matter what. You have to block every one of them. I noticed Paradox does that too, so I had to block three of the same .exe files in three different locations before it shut up.
Many games load WAY FASTER when Steam doesn't have internet access. Cities:Skylines2 is one of them. It loads in less than half the time now that it isn't telling Steam and Paradox everything I've done since my last game session.
When you want an update, either disable your firewall for the few minutes the update takes, or disable your firewall rules for Steam or Paradox for a few minutes. When the update is done, turn your firewall or rules back on.
Show Steam and Paradox that you're not into being a data source for their data mining profits and you're not an advertising hole they shove their ads into. When you visit the Store you get all the ads possible, you don't need them ON YOUR COMPUTER TOO.

[[N]ebsun]

Originally posted by Makam:

What are you talking about?!
You can't run anything without Steam app running too.

non-drm games / apps can be run without Steam being running.

[Anonymous Helper]

Originally posted by Nebsun:

Originally posted by Makam:

What are you talking about?!
You can't run anything without Steam app running too.

non-drm games / apps can be run without Steam being running.

Only if you run it from executable directly, all Steam created shortcuts for games launch Steam.

[lsdninja]

https://leo3418.github.io/2023/07/15/minimize-steam-for-game-shortcuts.html

Is probably what you're looking for.

edit: this doesn't stop the Steam client opening (that's a DRM thing and can't be avoided), but it should stop the main window from appearing if you start a game from a shortcut without the client already running in the background. It also doesn't close the client afterward, you have to manage that yourself (or use something like Playnite or even GOG Galaxy 2.0 if you;re desperate to handle it automatically).

[Anonymous Helper]

Originally posted by The Doctor:

I’m having this issue right now. When I try to play a game it just minimizes itself and I then the Steam app pops up showing me the summer sale. I close Steam and click back into the game. Seconds later it’s minimized again and from a blank screen I see the Steam app pop up again showing me the sale. No clue why this is happening. GPU is up to date, and Bitdefender is showing no viruses.

If I understood correctly, what you're experiencing is how Steam has worked for some time. If you launch Steam, it will steal focus couple of times popping up on top regardless of what other applications you might be running. If you want to avoid this, you need to launch Steam first every time and let it do it's thing of stealing focus and then launch the game you want. If Steam is already running and has done the pop up stuff, it should not do it again until you shut it down and launch it again.