It seems pretty standard in terms of trajectory: hobby project blew up and became a thing people relied on, founder grew up over the years as well and can't sustain it. Company steps in to provide the "right resources", but inevitably doesn't emphasize too much the changes that will be needed to make it "sustainable".
> Running a service like SteamDB is not easy. I wouldn't be able to live with myself by either just letting the site run as-is and letting it wither, or completely shut it down. In January, I started looking for a worthy partner that could continue the legacy that I had built.
> This is where Nexus Mods comes in.
And Chosen's CEO:
> Our job isn't to change what makes SteamDB special. It's to give it the resources, team and long-term stability it deserves, while building a sustainable foundation that allows us to keep investing in and improving it for many years to come.
So the real news here is what "sustainable foundation" means.
> So the real news here is what "sustainable foundation" means.
I think that's answered pretty well by the 5 ads that open when I visit the announcement page on nexusmods.com link in the OP vs the speedy and clean UI that on the steamdb.info version (for now).
They claim no ads on steamdb, but they also claim "show what games have a thriving modding community" or something like that. Which implies linking to modding hubs, which implies linking to nexusmods, which I'd 100% deem as being ads.
Just because it's ads for another site within the corporate umbrella doesn't make it any less of an ad. I also expect that to be just the start of the enshittification. I fully expect them to remove features, then add "new" features that are basically the same as the old ones, but that time behind paywalls. So that they can claim that they technically aren't making free features paid.
i don't know. the whole operation was kind of obnoxious. valve could provide all this information for free in an afternoon, but chooses not to. of course, by information, i mean: historical, per-user purchasing histories, which are 1,000,000% the most valuable piece of data. but since the guy who ran steamdb doesn't make games, he didn't comprehend what it was that was valuable, and instead, focused on CSGO "leaks."
This uses a load of private Steam API endpoints to work, and I think Valve has just allowed that because it's a loved community project.
Maybe they'll change their minds when NM tries to monetize it. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if they just create their own first-party version, then nuke this one.
"Why should the community trust Nexus Mods with SteamDB?"
You shouldn't have to take our word for it, so here are the commitments, in writing, that you can hold us to:
SteamDB stays free.
Nothing currently free goes behind a paywall.
We don't sell your personal data.
SteamDB keeps its own identity, site and community.
The extension stays free and keeps working.
none of that is legally enforceable so none of that matters, we had million stories of companies going back on their word, it isn't worth the rust it is written on
Damn, good for him, I guess, but what a bummer, I wonder how they'll enshittify the site. Also a reminder for everyone to disable or at least keep an eye out for updates on the extension. They say in the FAQ they won't change it, but i've been burned before by such promises
Okay, so go ahead and replace it. Even if we ignore the whole historical data aspect of SteamDB, you may find that accurately tracking and storing as much data as possible for hundreds of thousands of apps on Steam may not be as easy as it sounds, especially when you're doing it for free.
SteamDB is (was) one guy's passion project, that's the only way a site like this can work, and passion projects in tech are a thing of the past. There's no way to monetize it without making it borderline unusable. I am confident that, when SteamDB inevitably becomes a cesspit of intrusive ads and/or starts locking features behind a paywall (that no one will pay for, because paying a monthly subscription to see metadata for Steam games is insane, which will lead to more desperate measures and possibly an eventual shutdown of the site), no suitable replacement will be made.
The fundamental function of the site can now be vibecoded in a day, so now has no value. The daily visitors are the only unused item of value remaining.
So, looks like SteamDB is gonna get a billion features behind paywall. Probably gonna rate limit how many depots you can look up for free within the hour lol
Are you speaking purely out of principle, or do you truly believe it makes sense in this particular case?
Personally, I just can't imagine anyone paying a monthly fee just to access metadata for Steam games and nothing else. At least with Nexus Mods, you're paying for (easier) access to actual content for your games.
Probably speaking as someone who has used nexusmods in the past decade. Their monetization stuff is on the "lolwhat, that's kinda excessive" side of things.
Ah yes, Nexus Mods, where they'll ban you for making mods that change "Body Type A" and "Body Type B" back to "Male" and "Female", or remove mandatory pronoun selection.
And while they're still full of mods adding anime waifus into Skyrim, they'll ban anyone who uploads "content deemed illegal by English law" because they love sucking up to the Online Safety Act. (The site should really not be hosted in the UK until that law is repealed)
Do you know of any good alternatives to Nexus Mods? A peer-to-peer system would be really cool. Mod hosting over something like Reticulum, with mod manager integration, sounds like a dream.
And there's an example of one of the contradictions of modern PC gaming, for as much as it'll get hyped as a mostly open platform with a lot of freedom (in comparison to consoles), there's an awful lot that has coalesced on a small number of services over the years where an awful lot of value can vanish instantly if someone makes a decision you don't agree with or a service gets disrupted/closed.
We still have the ability to use a different platform though. It's entirely up to the users to choose which services and programs to use to accomplish their goal. With consoles, you just get what you get, and have the privilege of paying a monthly subscription just to play multiplayer. When the demand for an alternative gets high enough, one will appear, because we have that ability.
Knowing Nexus, I do expect some manner of censorship, though the exact form this censorship will take remains to be seen.
I genuinely wouldn't be surprised if they started taking payments from game publishers to hide historical player count data for certain games that aren't doing very well.
Allow the vocal snowflakes who can’t accept a video game featuring a tiny bit of non binary gender identity, and sooner than later you face the nazi bar problem[0].
It didn’t take long for x.com, previously known as twitter.
Yep. I remember Nexus mods removing mods that turns gay characters straight while allowing mods that turn straight characters gay (Cyberpunk). It's super obvious this platform is politically motivated and not motivated to let the user decide which mods they want to use.
This ad hominem is unnecessary when we are talking about quality of life mods. Of course quality of life mods are going to address what people are complaining about. That's the whole point of them.
>the nazi bar problem
Nexus Mods doesn't ban mods adding the trans flag to the game. Does this mean they are going to have the trans bar problem? You can make this same argument about everything.
Can't imagine any reason why anyone who wants trans people to feel welcome would also want nazis and their friends to feel unwelcome... couldn't have anything to do with the fact that nazis systematically rounded up trans people, executed them, and erased their culture, could it? /s
More directly, are you really using a false equivalence to counter an "ad hominem"?
"Quality of life", that's a euphemism for queer erasure I haven't heard before... and here I was thinking a quality of life mod was one that fixed a janky UI or smoothed out a grind, that kind of thing.
You certainly could complain about a "trans bar problem" if you like, and you could even go make your own nazi bar if not having one bothers you enough -- though it's pretty clear what that would say about your values.
> Ah yes, Nexus Mods, where they'll ban you for making mods that change "Body Type A" and "Body Type B" back to "Male" and "Female", or remove mandatory pronoun selection.
Oh, no. If this is the most severe issue that the company has then we are fine.
Be specific, use your big-person words like an adult. What specifically is the broader issue?
> You don't get what @amiga386 was implying
I think most of us get exactly what they're implying - they don't agree with the politics of the people running nexus (seems like they're scared of pronouns to me) - and don't really have anything concrete beyond that, so they're waving their hands and complaining about nexus abiding by the law.
The broader issue is people who publish on Nexus Mods appear to face more political restrictions than game developers publishing on Steam. I wonder if Nexus Mods will abuse their acquired control of SteamDB to censor it to their tastes, meaning it stops accurately reflecting Steam.
Yes they are solid_fuel it just so happens that you agree with it and so you deny it's happening.
Responses like the one you just made carried more weight a couple of years ago but people are just getting tired of this schtick now.
The 'host it somewhere else' like doesn't work as you well know. Since whoever hosts anything that doesn't align exactly with modern progressive ideology is labeled a Nazi, fascist, transphobe etc etc etc and their hosting platforms, payment processors etc are bombarded with complaints.
Again though, people like you solid_fuel are losing power so maybe there is a chance that alternatives can exist.
Sounds like they were getting overly upset by things that don't effect them and also...checks notes a website following the law of the country they're based in.
Really weird things to be getting upset over if you ask me.
Regardless of the stupidity of the law (which don't get me wrong, the Online "Safety" Act in the UK is incredibly dumb) you still have to follow it until its struck down or replaced.
Y’all cowards always implying. Say the thing you think. Just say it. I’ll start: I think getting upset by a pronouns dropdown is literal homophobia, in that y’all are so scared, worried, and bothered by thinking about gay shit that you’re installing software about it.
Better link about the background here is on SteamDB's blog: https://steamdb.info/blog/steamdb-nexus-mods/
It seems pretty standard in terms of trajectory: hobby project blew up and became a thing people relied on, founder grew up over the years as well and can't sustain it. Company steps in to provide the "right resources", but inevitably doesn't emphasize too much the changes that will be needed to make it "sustainable".
> Running a service like SteamDB is not easy. I wouldn't be able to live with myself by either just letting the site run as-is and letting it wither, or completely shut it down. In January, I started looking for a worthy partner that could continue the legacy that I had built.
> This is where Nexus Mods comes in.
And Chosen's CEO:
> Our job isn't to change what makes SteamDB special. It's to give it the resources, team and long-term stability it deserves, while building a sustainable foundation that allows us to keep investing in and improving it for many years to come.
So the real news here is what "sustainable foundation" means.
> So the real news here is what "sustainable foundation" means.
I think that's answered pretty well by the 5 ads that open when I visit the announcement page on nexusmods.com link in the OP vs the speedy and clean UI that on the steamdb.info version (for now).
I think this one particularly interesting and it really explains to me how a caring and passionate person would do such a move.
> After COVID and with the rise of AI, the internet we once loved is gone, and with it my passion.
And I really have to say that it's very relatable.
> https://steamdb.info/blog/steamdb-nexus-mods/
Someone posted that before I see (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49534491) so perhaps post can be merged to there
They claim no ads on steamdb, but they also claim "show what games have a thriving modding community" or something like that. Which implies linking to modding hubs, which implies linking to nexusmods, which I'd 100% deem as being ads.
Just because it's ads for another site within the corporate umbrella doesn't make it any less of an ad. I also expect that to be just the start of the enshittification. I fully expect them to remove features, then add "new" features that are basically the same as the old ones, but that time behind paywalls. So that they can claim that they technically aren't making free features paid.
i don't know. the whole operation was kind of obnoxious. valve could provide all this information for free in an afternoon, but chooses not to. of course, by information, i mean: historical, per-user purchasing histories, which are 1,000,000% the most valuable piece of data. but since the guy who ran steamdb doesn't make games, he didn't comprehend what it was that was valuable, and instead, focused on CSGO "leaks."
This uses a load of private Steam API endpoints to work, and I think Valve has just allowed that because it's a loved community project.
Maybe they'll change their minds when NM tries to monetize it. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if they just create their own first-party version, then nuke this one.
Well it's dead now. The demise of NM has been very public
FAQ by SteamDB: https://steamdb.info/faq/?guildid=215154001799413770#why-sho...
"Why should the community trust Nexus Mods with SteamDB?"
You shouldn't have to take our word for it, so here are the commitments, in writing, that you can hold us to:
none of that is legally enforceable so none of that matters, we had million stories of companies going back on their word, it isn't worth the rust it is written on
Lmfao
And the company behind Nexus:
>We acquire. We amplify. We conquer.
https://www.wearechosen.io/
lmao good luck.
Love how the guy was running the site alone becaue he couldn’t “trust anyone else” and ended up selling to a company like this.
Though SteamDB is not irreplacebale at all, it’s running on the Steam Web API so not something super secret stuff.
> Though SteamDB is not irreplacebale at all, it’s running on the Steam Web API so not something super secret stuff.
Is it possible to use Steam API to collect all the data that SteamDB collected over the years again?
Alternatively, maybe someone needs to to scrape SteamDB asap before they lock it down?
Damn, good for him, I guess, but what a bummer, I wonder how they'll enshittify the site. Also a reminder for everyone to disable or at least keep an eye out for updates on the extension. They say in the FAQ they won't change it, but i've been burned before by such promises
Nexus was sold to those new owners a bit over a year ago.
Nothing changed for the worse since that time. So don't expect any immediate changes.
Okay, so go ahead and replace it. Even if we ignore the whole historical data aspect of SteamDB, you may find that accurately tracking and storing as much data as possible for hundreds of thousands of apps on Steam may not be as easy as it sounds, especially when you're doing it for free.
SteamDB is (was) one guy's passion project, that's the only way a site like this can work, and passion projects in tech are a thing of the past. There's no way to monetize it without making it borderline unusable. I am confident that, when SteamDB inevitably becomes a cesspit of intrusive ads and/or starts locking features behind a paywall (that no one will pay for, because paying a monthly subscription to see metadata for Steam games is insane, which will lead to more desperate measures and possibly an eventual shutdown of the site), no suitable replacement will be made.
The most valuable data is the per user purchase histories from before the time those were hidden by default.
Why is that "valuable"?
So we know how many hentai games you've bought
they basically map out the paying audience for your game on Steam
The fundamental function of the site can now be vibecoded in a day, so now has no value. The daily visitors are the only unused item of value remaining.
I await your repo tomorrow, then! I'd be happy to use an alternative with all backfilled playercount data and sales history that hasn't been sold out.
SteamDB is itself a massive collection of data - on pricing, game usage, etc. Scraped over years, in a way that Valve tolerate.
It could not be vibecoded in a day unless you want to hallucinate the data, which makes the site useless.
In fact, if the techbros actually tried, they'd force Valve into putting up anti-scraping countermeasures on all their APIs within hours.
Go ahead and do it just to prove a point.
that's optimistic
The value is in the contributed art.
Title has an extra d after Steam.
Crapd. Can't edit anymore. But like I suggested elsewhere, perhaps comments can be moved to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49534491, they were first
you can send an email to dang to get it fixed
So, looks like SteamDB is gonna get a billion features behind paywall. Probably gonna rate limit how many depots you can look up for free within the hour lol
I think that's perfectly reasonable if it means a more sustainable future
Is it for a sustainable future, or just extracting maximum value from the user?
Are you speaking purely out of principle, or do you truly believe it makes sense in this particular case?
Personally, I just can't imagine anyone paying a monthly fee just to access metadata for Steam games and nothing else. At least with Nexus Mods, you're paying for (easier) access to actual content for your games.
Probably speaking as someone who has used nexusmods in the past decade. Their monetization stuff is on the "lolwhat, that's kinda excessive" side of things.
Probably have ads because idk who would pay to lift those limits.
apparently it was sustainable just fine before
R.I.P. it was a good site and couldn't fall into much worse hands
Ah yes, Nexus Mods, where they'll ban you for making mods that change "Body Type A" and "Body Type B" back to "Male" and "Female", or remove mandatory pronoun selection.
https://www.gameslearningsociety.org/did-nexus-mods-ban-pron...
And while they're still full of mods adding anime waifus into Skyrim, they'll ban anyone who uploads "content deemed illegal by English law" because they love sucking up to the Online Safety Act. (The site should really not be hosted in the UK until that law is repealed)
https://forums.nexusmods.com/topic/13520419-thevogelman-bann...
Does this mean that Steam's porn games will disappear from SteamDB as Nexus Mods puritanically censor their new acquisition?
Do you know of any good alternatives to Nexus Mods? A peer-to-peer system would be really cool. Mod hosting over something like Reticulum, with mod manager integration, sounds like a dream.
And there's an example of one of the contradictions of modern PC gaming, for as much as it'll get hyped as a mostly open platform with a lot of freedom (in comparison to consoles), there's an awful lot that has coalesced on a small number of services over the years where an awful lot of value can vanish instantly if someone makes a decision you don't agree with or a service gets disrupted/closed.
We still have the ability to use a different platform though. It's entirely up to the users to choose which services and programs to use to accomplish their goal. With consoles, you just get what you get, and have the privilege of paying a monthly subscription just to play multiplayer. When the demand for an alternative gets high enough, one will appear, because we have that ability.
Try quoting the full line, not just the part that scares you:
> Uploading content deemed illegal by English law (indecent depictions of minors)
Just Web 2.0 and it’s consequences.
Knowing Nexus, I do expect some manner of censorship, though the exact form this censorship will take remains to be seen.
I genuinely wouldn't be surprised if they started taking payments from game publishers to hide historical player count data for certain games that aren't doing very well.
sounds a bit... snowflakey of you
Nexus Mods will ban you for making mods that reject the politics of the site moderators. That is not a neutral action.
Steam, as far as I understand, lets you publish anything that's legal in the countries you sell it. You don't have to conform to GabeN's politics.
SteamDB should be a faithful record of what's published to Steam. I hope it stays that way.
Allow the vocal snowflakes who can’t accept a video game featuring a tiny bit of non binary gender identity, and sooner than later you face the nazi bar problem[0].
It didn’t take long for x.com, previously known as twitter.
[0]: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Nazi_bar
Yep. I remember Nexus mods removing mods that turns gay characters straight while allowing mods that turn straight characters gay (Cyberpunk). It's super obvious this platform is politically motivated and not motivated to let the user decide which mods they want to use.
>vocal snowflakes
This ad hominem is unnecessary when we are talking about quality of life mods. Of course quality of life mods are going to address what people are complaining about. That's the whole point of them.
>the nazi bar problem
Nexus Mods doesn't ban mods adding the trans flag to the game. Does this mean they are going to have the trans bar problem? You can make this same argument about everything.
Can't imagine any reason why anyone who wants trans people to feel welcome would also want nazis and their friends to feel unwelcome... couldn't have anything to do with the fact that nazis systematically rounded up trans people, executed them, and erased their culture, could it? /s
More directly, are you really using a false equivalence to counter an "ad hominem"?
"Quality of life", that's a euphemism for queer erasure I haven't heard before... and here I was thinking a quality of life mod was one that fixed a janky UI or smoothed out a grind, that kind of thing.
You certainly could complain about a "trans bar problem" if you like, and you could even go make your own nazi bar if not having one bothers you enough -- though it's pretty clear what that would say about your values.
> Ah yes, Nexus Mods, where they'll ban you for making mods that change "Body Type A" and "Body Type B" back to "Male" and "Female", or remove mandatory pronoun selection.
Oh, no. If this is the most severe issue that the company has then we are fine.
It's an example of broader issue.
You don't get what @amiga386 was implying
> It's an example of broader issue.
Be specific, use your big-person words like an adult. What specifically is the broader issue?
> You don't get what @amiga386 was implying
I think most of us get exactly what they're implying - they don't agree with the politics of the people running nexus (seems like they're scared of pronouns to me) - and don't really have anything concrete beyond that, so they're waving their hands and complaining about nexus abiding by the law.
The broader issue is people who publish on Nexus Mods appear to face more political restrictions than game developers publishing on Steam. I wonder if Nexus Mods will abuse their acquired control of SteamDB to censor it to their tastes, meaning it stops accurately reflecting Steam.
We don't like having an ideology pushed on us. That is the issue solid_fuel
Nobody is “pushing an ideology” on you, indy.
Nexus mods is allowed to choose what they want to host. If you want to share a mod they don’t accept, host it somewhere else.
Yes they are solid_fuel it just so happens that you agree with it and so you deny it's happening.
Responses like the one you just made carried more weight a couple of years ago but people are just getting tired of this schtick now.
The 'host it somewhere else' like doesn't work as you well know. Since whoever hosts anything that doesn't align exactly with modern progressive ideology is labeled a Nazi, fascist, transphobe etc etc etc and their hosting platforms, payment processors etc are bombarded with complaints.
Again though, people like you solid_fuel are losing power so maybe there is a chance that alternatives can exist.
Scared of pronouns.
Bwahaha.
Ok
that's what you are thinking we are "scared".
not scared it's a different reason, where you think on the surface that's the issue you dummy who can only see the surface.
Sounds like they were getting overly upset by things that don't effect them and also...checks notes a website following the law of the country they're based in.
Really weird things to be getting upset over if you ask me.
Regardless of the stupidity of the law (which don't get me wrong, the Online "Safety" Act in the UK is incredibly dumb) you still have to follow it until its struck down or replaced.
You can also host websites in not the UK and thus not be bound by the OSA.
I don't think SteamDB is currently hosted in the UK, and I think it would be a mistake to move it there.
They pretend not to get it because they agree with what Nexus mods is doing.
Then why choose the most inconsequential example (IMO) I can imagine?
And what's the broader issue? That it's moderated?
Y’all cowards always implying. Say the thing you think. Just say it. I’ll start: I think getting upset by a pronouns dropdown is literal homophobia, in that y’all are so scared, worried, and bothered by thinking about gay shit that you’re installing software about it.
It’s weak. Y’all are weak.
God forbid you install a mod that modifies a game.
Good news! You're still allowed to install whatever mods you want.
Expecting Nexus to host mods they don't want to host is idiotic.
Hiding the whole complaint behind an implication is cowardice.
Hope that helps.