SteamSpy has always been a valuable resource for discovering how well a title is performing across the Steam landscape. It can show things like what games are trending (showing upticks in purchases or gameplay time), what the top played game is by time, or even stats across all of Steam regarding total playtime or purchases. However, following a recent Steam privacy update, SteamSpy will most likely have to shut down.

The new privacy settings do not go out of their way to target SteamSpy or other collectors of user data. Instead, the settings are designed to make the presentation of data an option that is more apparent. For instance, in the past, any user that clicked a Steam profile could see a user’s library, achievements, and playtime, but Steam has done away with that. Users will now have the option to select which games appear and in what capacity. Essentially, the default for users will no longer be to share any and all information regarding their account activity.

For SteamSpy, this means that their data will be hugely affected. As the majority of users are unlikely to even notice that their libraries are now hidden, it’s unlikely many will go through the trouble of making them public. SteamSpy responded with on their official twitter.

While Steam has always been open and transparent about policies and mechanisms with how they interact with the community, it sounds like they may have felt like they were taking advantage of users. They indicated that some research showed users prefer to have the option to share or hide this date, even if the data is only related to games and even if it isn’t widely used.

The real reason behind Steam’s move to tighten security on user information may have something to do with the increased awareness of how companies are using such data. For instance, Facebook is in hot water after millions of users realized how Facebook has been using their data. More importantly, Mark Zuckerberg has been shown to have full and complete knowledge of what information was being taken from users. While some don’t care if Zuckerberg knows where they are checking in to eat breakfast, for many, the issue represents a larger issue of personal freedom.

While Steam hasn’t outright said there is any relation, it’s hard not to think that they are taking precautionary measures to ensure that no one ever starts looking to come after them for unfair use of user data.