https://twitter.com/Steam_Spy/status/768793818296639489?lang=en
If you don't know what SteamSpy is, it's a pretty awesome site that collects data from Steam profiles and uses it to estimate the number of owners each game has. Developers have requested to remove the data before and SteamSpy has complied but now it seems he's getting annoyed by it.
I'm with him to just ignore the requests from now on. I don't find there to be a valid reason to hide this sales information from the public, unless you're the KSP devs living in a bad place where being rich can get you harmed.
EDIT: Looks like all the data is back. Paradox owner data is here now: http://steamspy.com/dev/Paradox+Development+Studio
Good post from Nirolak:
Steam Spy ‏@Steam_Spy 10m10 minutes ago
Techland requested the removal of their games as well.
Should I just stop honoring these requests?
Steam Spy ‏@Steam_Spy 4m4 minutes ago
I believe in building a tool that is useful for the game developers.
Steam Spy ‏@Steam_Spy 4m4 minutes ago
In the last 1,5 years there were no incidents where developer was hurt because of his data being exposed on Steam Spy.
Steam Spy
‏@Steam_Spy
So, let's see what happens if I restore all the removed games at Steam Spy.
If you don't know what SteamSpy is, it's a pretty awesome site that collects data from Steam profiles and uses it to estimate the number of owners each game has. Developers have requested to remove the data before and SteamSpy has complied but now it seems he's getting annoyed by it.
I'm with him to just ignore the requests from now on. I don't find there to be a valid reason to hide this sales information from the public, unless you're the KSP devs living in a bad place where being rich can get you harmed.
EDIT: Looks like all the data is back. Paradox owner data is here now: http://steamspy.com/dev/Paradox+Development+Studio
Good post from Nirolak:
Let's do a quick review of everyone who requested their data be taken down.
Squad (Kerbal Space Program): Paid their staff nigh zero wages, frequently fired them, game had sold 1.5 million copies at a high ASP. Their request was done under the cover of asserting that Mexican drug cartels would murder all their staff if their data was on SteamSpy because a drug cartel that was sophisticated enough to use SteamSpy wouldn't be able to figure out Kerbal Space Program was a success otherwise.
Paradox: Had an IPO. Was very concerned that investors wouldn't be able to understand the three day sales lag on SteamSpy, and reported the numbers were very inaccurate anyway. Proceeded to announce sales numbers a few days later that were basically exactly the same as SteamSpy right before it shut off. Given every public company has an IR department that has to deal with continual investor questions, they're either completely not ready for the IPO they're doing and their stock will be totally fucked, or they're actually just trying to hide any future potential underperformances.
Nicalis: Probably one of the less successful indie publishers. Presumably don't want their data shown so that indie developers can't easily compare the success rates of their potential publishers and come to the conclusion they may prefer Devolver Digital or Adult Swim.
Techland: Getting into game publishing, and never cared before. Presumably they're concerned for the same same reason as Nicalis unless they're planning an imminent IPO.
Also, to be clear, these are publisher wishes, not developer wishes. We see basically no individual developers except Squad wanting their data pulled.
If all the major, gigantic publishers see zero issue with SteamSpy, and the individual developers don't, and this is only an issue for a very select number of small time publishers, I'm really having trouble imagining a scenario where SteamSpy is actually problematic for anyone.