Call Of Juarez Gunslinger Steam Is Required In Order To Play Fix Online
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger is widely praised as a tight, stylish arcade-style FPS. However, players—especially those who purchased the game through third-party retailers like GOG or Humble Bundle—often encounter a frustrating roadblock: a pop-up message declaring, “Steam is required in order to play.” This message appears even when the game was bought from a supposedly DRM-free store. Understanding why this happens and how to fix it is essential for any gunslinger wanting to ride into the sunset. The Root Cause: A Launcher Leftover The problem is not a conspiracy to force Steam on everyone. Instead, it is a technical artifact. The version of Call of Juarez: Gunslinger sold on most platforms (including older physical copies) was originally built to launch through Steam’s DRM (Digital Rights Management). Even when a storefront like GOG lists the game as DRM-free, the executable file ( CoJGunslinger.exe ) may still contain a hardcoded check that looks for a running Steam client.
In Steam, go to Games > Add a Non-Steam Game to My Library , browse to CoJGunslinger.exe , and add it. Launching from within Steam often bypasses the error because Steam is explicitly running. Call of Juarez: Gunslinger is widely praised as
If you have no moral or technical objection to Steam, simply install it, create a free account, and leave it running in the background. Launch the game. Even if the game was purchased elsewhere, the Steam client’s presence satisfies the check. You do not need to buy the game again on Steam. The Root Cause: A Launcher Leftover The problem
If you launch the game and Steam is not installed or not running, the executable throws the error and closes. This is particularly common after using a cracked or modified executable from a non-Steam source, or when the game was installed via a disk that assumed Steam would be present. Fortunately, resolving this does not require advanced hacking. There are several reliable solutions. Even when a storefront like GOG lists the
