Changes:
- Appsflyer is completely removed from the game and all collected data is deleted;
- EULA restored to the previous version. Any reverse is also a change, so we ask you to accept the EULA again.
Thank you for waiting, now you may play the game without any concerns, as you used to. We hope that the whole situation will not affect your impression of the game.
We deeply appreciate your support and we thank you for the honest feedback!
Thank you for the quick action.
Aside note: Do you have a reddit or place where you take suggestions or comments on the game itself? I know there is a Report Bug option in the game, but I have plenty of suggestion and comment that it would be tedious to keep using that.
Thank you again.
Hello. We read this reddit :)
The best and most useful way to deliver your feedback is to participate in the polls and surveys we sometimes make. Data from those goes directly into development. Threads and posts with large support are also always analyzed.
Note however that in game development, most of the time you are not limited by ideas. You are limited by budget and how much you can fit in within that budget. So it's best to focus not on offering new ideas, but on reporting the issues you have encountered.
They probably expected the reaction to this could be bad so the response was likely already pre planned. It isn’t uncommon for companies to have contingencies in the event that there’s backlash to whatever nonsense they’re attempting.
To be fair, no, it wasn't a prepared response. It was an on-field decision to take everything down, by people with relevant authorities during an emergency meeting soon after the CM team has sounded the alarm. Some of us were quite pessimistic about this, so we were carefully monitoring the social media, but the scale of outburst surpassed the worst expectations, and it had to be reacted quickly upon.
Whelp, hopefully the people who saw this coming get more of a say next time. I guess it’s unsurprising that the decision makers are this out of touch, that’s just what most of us have come to expect from the industry at this point. 🤷♀️
They aren't out of touch, otherwise they wouldn't be able to react this quickly. It took less than an hour after the problem was brought to attention, to start preparing the shutdown.
It's more of an idea that looked decent on paper (effectively, it could become a good tool to vastly reduce waste of budget on ineffective content, which is crucial for a 2-year old game) but turned out ugly due to underestimation of reaction and an insufficiently clear explanation.
Toss here some side factors such as unusual patch size due to the Unity engine upgrade ("26 GB of spyware?!!!") and a general distrust of hardcore PC gamers to these things that are traditionally more a part of mobile market, and this is what you get.
What to do now? To learn on mistakes of course.
It was really as simple as making the data transmission an opt-in. It's already the case with save file and performance telemetry in the base game.
I hope a lesson was learned for Rogue Trader so a situation like this is avoided. People are typically ready to root for indie, privately held companies like Owlcat in an industry that is full of sellouts. Losing that goodwill with hamfisted missteps is a big shame.
I can confirm that all plans for usage of this software have been shut down, and it is not coming to Rogue Trader or any Pathfinder updates in any way or form.
I'm sure you can't/won't give details on this but broad strokes... what was the idea behind this? A smaller company loading massive, invasive data drag on their relatively niche game seems like it would never go over well.
I assume whatever company made the Spyware just offered Owlcat a bunch of money to include it?
I assume whatever company made the Spyware just offered Owlcat a bunch of money to include it?
For the love of God no.
I already explained it earlier but I'll repeat, the purpose was pretty open and simple - this app would allow us to compare the data on the amount of launches of the game with the data from our marketing campaigns (sales, banners etc.) to see where we spend budget effectively, and where we waste money.
Given the game is almost 2 years old, the more effectively we are able to manage its budget, the longer its support will last and more we are able to spend on the actual development.
We hoped that being open about the introduction of the software and explanation about its purpose would be enough, but our delivery of information was far from perfect, and we severely underestimated the level of frustration and suspicion caused by what people legitimately considered an invasion of privacy. Unusually large patch size caused by Unity upgrade, despite having nothing to do with it, added fuel to the fire.
All in all, it was a controversial idea to begin with, and we quickly realised it didn't work at all, and shut it down completely, ceasing all further plans of its use.
Good riddance, honestly.
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