Similar to Valve's Steam client, Station Launcher will manage all game updates and allow users to purchase any SOE-run MMOs, online collectible card games, or expansions. Users who already own one or more SOE games can register their corresponding CD-keys to install titles without using CDs. Games can also be run via Station Launcher without discs inserted. Numerous launching options will be available--players will be able to launch a game directly into a selected server and character, or even set a game to launch automatically once Windows boots. Players can even select an option that will prevent the End User License Agreement from ever being displayed unless it has been modified since last being shown.

While Station Launcher is running, it will monitor CPU usage and download game patches for all installed SOE software while the PC is idle. This functionality can be disabled for users who prefer to download updates manually. From the software's main list of games, players can view game-specific news panes as well as the most recent update notes for each title. The game list is fully customizable, and SOE also plans to release new skins for the software over time.

Station Launcher's most ambitious feature is its cross-game chat service. Players will be able to view a friends list tracking players across all SOE games, and will be able to exchange messages in any SOE game or through the Station Launcher. Significantly, the software not only sends messages across games between currently active friends, but retroactively locates the current location of friends met in the past and shows a breakdown of their SOE gaming histories as well as pinpointing where they were first encountered online. This means that a former EverQuest player now playing EverQuest II will be able to locate and send messages to a fellow former EverQuest friend now playing Vanguard, even if the two players have not corresponded since their EverQuest days. Of course, for privacy purposes, players may choose not to enable this service, or they may choose to operate in a private mode while logged into certain specified characters.

"What I expect when this goes live is a massive online reunion in all these games," said Pearce. SOE even hopes to extend this cross-game chat to MMOs from other publishers. Currently, SOE provides contract services to other companies in the MMO space--for example, it handles customer service for Square Enix's Final Fantasy XI and billing for various games--and its plan is to add chat to the list of features it can offer. Pearce even pointed to non-MMO games such as DICE's Battlefield 2 as potential candidates for inclusion in Station Manager.

In addition to working across games, Station Launcher's chat functionality will integrate with AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, Xfire, and Yahoo! Messenger soon after launch, with Xfire compatibility expected to be the first to go live. There will be shared game-related functions between Station Manager and Xfire, and SOE hopes to pursue similar plans with Yahoo! Games. Compatibility with Windows Live Messenger (formerly MSN Messenger) is also a goal.

Since Station Launcher is based on the open Jabber standard, hobbyist programmers will be able to tinker with it. "A good programmer could probably easily make a Trillian plug-in in ten minutes," Pearce claimed. A kit allowing users to make their own custom skins for the official client is a possibility being explored by SOE.

When it was first announced last year, Pearce said of Station Launcher, "It's not going to stop at the PC." Unfortunately, he could not give any indication as to the company's potential plans for the software on other platforms, such as PlayStation 3.

Station Launcher is currently in an internal beta. It will be available in a public beta test this summer, during which time Launchpad will remain active. Launchpad will be phased out once the final version of Station Launcher is released towards the end of summer 2007.