SteamSpy has been one of the most widely-referenced analytic tools for Steam since it was created back in 2015 by Sergey Galyonkin. However, thanks to Valve‘s recent privacy policy changes on Steam, the site can no longer operate like it used to and will probably need to shut down. SteamSpy has always been used by developers and gaming journalists alike as a way of tracking the estimated overall sales of games on Steam.
Galyonkin tweeted about the situation and said: Valve just made a change to their privacy settings, making games owned by Steam users hidden by default. Steam Spy relied on this information being visible by default and won’t be able to operate anymore.” He then added another tweet below, saying: “To reiterate – it’s not because of the new privacy settings. It’s because Steam just made everyone’s gaming library hidden by default (this wasn’t in their blog post).”
In a blog post earlier today, Steam explained the new settings update for the Profile Privacy Settings Page. Steam users now have the option of selecting who can view their profile’s “game details,” including the list of games purchased or wishlisted, along with achievements and playtime. Additionally, they can also keep their total game playtime private so that no one can see the thousands of hours they’ve spent on an embarrassing game. Speaking of future plans, Steam also mentioned that they’re working on a new “invisible mode” so that they can appear offline but still view their friends list, as well as send and receive messages.
It looks like Valve is working hard to putting more value on the privacy of their users on Steam, likely due to all the data collection issues arising from Facebook’s controversial scandal recently. Galyonkin also said in a tweeted reply that he will probably be keeping SteamSpy as an archive from here on out.
