Short guide to bypass the 2K Launcher when starting up the game to save you some time.

You may have seen similar guides to this such as in Mafia III, BioShock, etc... as those titles also have the 2K Launcher enabled which follow the same steps.

1. Find the location where Mafia: DE's executable is located, and copy the exe's location (in my case for example M:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Mafia Definitive Edition)
   
   You can quickly find the location by going to your Steam library right clicking on Mafia: DE, select properties, head to "Local Files" and select "Browse" to go straight to the game's directory.
   
   
   
   
2. Once you're at the game's directory, find "mafiadefinitiveedition.exe" and copy the directory where it's located (in my case for example; M:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Mafia Definitive Edition\mafiadefinitiveedition.exe)
   
   
   
   
3. Back to your Steam library, select "General" on the side, and on the bottom there is a launch options tab.
   
   From there, insert the following command with the location of the executable you've copied earlier:
   

   "Mafia: DE's executable location" %command%

   In my case for example:
   

   "M:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Mafia Definitive Edition\mafiadefinitiveedition.exe" %command%

   
   
   
   

That's all there is to bypass the 2K Launcher.

Enjoy starting the game without the pesky launcher.