The decision by Valve to stop supporting Google Analytics may have significant repercussions for game developers.
This would particularly affect those who rely on the technology to gather specific information on who visits their Steam pages so they can more accurately assess the audience they’re attracting.
Using Internal Traffic Reporting Tools By Valve To Improve User Privacy
The maker of the hugely successful video game platform Steam, Valve, recently announced that they would stop using Google Analytics to track game developer information regarding who is visiting their Steam pages. This is according to the reports.
Instead, Valve will make use of its own internal traffic reporting technologies to better protect user privacy while still gaining insight into how users interact with their platform. Any successful organization must take into account the way customers interact with its platform.
Without this information, Valve could not decide how to best structure the platform, what features to add, or even what languages to support. Knowing who is using their platform and how frequently they are using it is the greatest way to make decisions that benefit everyone.
Up until now, developers have been able to make judgments about the languages they would support, the servers they would need to locate, and even the demographic they are targeting by using Google Analytics to identify the sources of Steam page visitors.
A Step Toward Improved Steam Traffic Reporting Tools: Regional Breakdown Feature
They would be able to keep tabs on visitors’ ages, genders, races, and other personally identifiable data that Valve asserts it will no longer make available. In order to protect customer privacy, Valve says it makes trade-offs, does not divulge personally identifying information, and is “focused on improving its own Steam traffic reporting tools.”
As a result, they’ve announced adding a regional breakdown functionality that would help developers determine the origins of their network traffic.
Many believe that leaving Google Analytics will help Valve better adhere to its own privacy policy, which stipulates that they do not track personally identifiable information.
In their blog post, Valve said that Google’s tracking did not “align well with their approach to customer privacy” and that they had not heard back directly from Google on the matter. Having said that, Valve’s new platform usage tracking features are undoubtedly a great addition.
Steps Being Taken by Valve to Preserve Visitors’ Privacy on the Steam Platform
The valve may better comprehend how users interact with the Steam platform as they continue to take steps to better adhere to their customer privacy policy, allowing them to make choices that are advantageous to everyone.
The bottom line is that Valve takes customer privacy seriously and is taking every precaution to safeguard visitor data. Even while some of the data that developers once collected will no longer be accessible, the corporation is taking steps to assure that customers cannot be tracked.
Also read: GitHub introduces new security features to improve vulnerability reporting
Valve should place a high premium on protecting the privacy of Steam users, and it is making sure to do so.
