Health, home and travel decision
iWin
A storefront and launcher can be rebuilt. The licensed catalog, game packaging, entitlements, payments, weekly releases, and customer support are the product—and are substantially cheaper to buy than recreate.
Visit website↗Open-source builds that already do this
Every project below is open source and already does this job today. Fork one, self-host it, or take the parts you need — the build prompt further down assumes an empty file, and this is the shortcut past that. Licences differ; check the one on each card before you ship.
What a replacement has to do
- A searchable library for games you already own
- Local launch and install-state tracking
- Favorites and play history
- Basic account entitlements
What it still won’t have
- iWin's licensed game catalog
- All Access membership rights
- Managed installers and game updates
- Publisher operations and customer support
What remains hard
- Content licensing
- Secure game delivery and entitlements
- Installer compatibility
- Catalog and publisher operations
First-year cost
Keep paying
Paying is—cheaper in year one.
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 4 seats.
Money you would actually spend
Time you would spend
—
What you would spend
What we assumed
The verdict above measures whether you could build it. This one is only about money.
Runnable build prompt
Build a private Windows game library and launcher for games the user already owns. Use C#, .NET, SQLite, and a native desktop UI. Scan user-selected folders for installed games and store local metadata, cover art, executable paths, and play history. Support search, filters, favorites, manual game entries, and launch arguments. Keep all library data on the device and provide JSON export and import. Allow cover art to be selected from local files; do not scrape or redistribute copyrighted assets. Do not implement a commercial storefront, subscription, DRM, payments, publisher ingestion, or game downloads. Add clear error handling for missing executables and moved folders. Include tests for library import, path validation, and backup restore. Document that users must own every game they add.
