[2021] Why Am I Asked to Install Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime on Launch?

Players may be prompted to install a Microsoft Edge WebView2[blogs.windows.com] runtime on launch. This is a simple runtime installation used to provide web-based content in the launcher - it is not spyware, and will not install the Microsoft Edge browser.

For more information, please see Microsoft Edge WebView2 and Microsoft 365 Apps[docs.microsoft.com].

Originally posted by recurvedshedua: I am in the IT industry too Fatshark, in recent years sitting on security scanners and doing remediations. Many vulnerabilities show up in unmaintained or outdated third party packages that get installed with other software. And often times we have to reach out to the vendor which is simply unaware or doesn't care about that information.

I feel ye. This runtime is maintained by the OS in so much as it's a Microsoft runtime, akin to the C runtime libraries we also invoke installation of when the game is first run, or the redists are updated. Most users who keep their Win 10 OS up to date would have already had this runtime installed by proxy of having had OS updates. So it's not so much a third party dependency for anyone running a Microsoft operating system, which is 99.99% of Vermintide 2 players.