What language and framework should a beginner use for a cross-platform gaming console desktop app?

Electron with React is another practical option because there are abundant tutorials, UI libraries, and examples. Tauri produces a smaller application, but it adds Rust to the learning curve. The important limitation is that a web-based UI cannot directly handle everything on your list. Detecting installed games, communicating with launchers, reading controller input, managing processes, changing system settings, and updating drivers will require native APIs, helper processes, scripts, or elevated permissions.

A common architecture would be a UI layer plus a separate system-integration layer. Node.js can handle some of that integration, but you’ll still need to learn Windows and Linux APIs and design the privileged parts carefully. Resource usage is worth measuring, but it should not be the first concern before you have a working prototype.

This is an extremely ambitious first project. The framework is only one part of the challenge—you’ll also need programming fundamentals, software architecture, version control, testing, logging, deployment, documentation, and platform-specific APIs. It could easily take years as a solo project.

For this type of application, I’d lean toward C# rather than Python. C# has strong libraries for desktop applications and operating-system integration, and it is generally a better fit for a large application that needs to remain maintainable. Avalonia can provide a cross-platform UI, but check its current licensing and tooling terms carefully, especially if the project ever becomes commercial or gains an organization behind it. You can begin with the free development tools and revisit that question later.

Start with only two or three features, such as detecting installed games, launching them, and handling one controller. Make that small version reliable before adding anything else. Discord voice chat, game overlays, driver updates, mod downloads, game-store integration, and operating-system updates are substantial features on their own, and some may have security, licensing, or platform restrictions.

A good first milestone would be a controller-oriented home screen that scans a single game library and launches a selected game. Build it incrementally, keep the code in version control, and let each completed feature teach you what the next layer needs.

Java with JavaFX is also capable of producing cross-platform desktop applications, particularly if you already know Java or want to learn it. However, there is no framework that will make this project short or simple. The difficult work is the platform integration and the number of independent services involved, not just drawing the interface.