I am having the same problem. I tried the play button spamming, and it seemed to work. The launcher closed and a new window opened. Unfortunately that window was just a black screen that locked up my computer for ten minutes and then crashed. Is the subsequent black screen part of the same problem or is it unrelated?
I am not sure if I have the same problems as the others. But I am still unable to start the game with Razer Synapse "on"(Razer mouse drivers). I press play and the game stops responding. (it doesnt show error code though)
Guys, today I sarted the game with Synapse open and got no error. It seems that the 12/18 patch fixed the problem, I have to do more tests anyway but give it a try now!
Then it's only for me? I haven't changed anything else in my computer, I thought it was because of the patch.