WotR Spyware added in new patch

[Philistine]

In the new 26GB patch get to enjoy something call AppsFlyer!
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1184370/eventcomments/3812910932503680049

 

[Shagnak]

Well, that was a fucking dumb move.

 

[Couchpotato]

Oh it is the whole let us track how you play, and inject game ads. You know I wish I was surprised by this but I'm not. They are still technically a Russian developer.

I'm not buying their excuse why they implemented it either.

 

[Shagnak]

It appears more a "detect if you clicked on our ads and match that up with people buying the game" thing:

It is tracking our links with our ads and correlates it with new players.

So, no ads in the game, but still pretty fucking skeevy. An offline game that tracks what you're doing online and reports back to home base, and no way of opting out.

 

[Shagnak]

Oh, it's been undone.
The idea that it didn't cross their mind that it would be a big deal is beyond me. Dumbasses.

UPD
: After reading through your comments and taking into consideration your concerns, we would like to apologize for the whole AppsFlyer and EULA update situation. What we considered a technical thing turned out to be a huge privacy concern for a lot of our players. We value our players the most, so we will do the following:
1. We will completely remove AppsFlyer from the game with a hotfix coming by tomorrow evening.
2. For those who have already accepted the new EULA, all collected data will be deleted after the hotfix.
3. The EULA itself will be restored to the previous version. Any reverse is also a change, so we will kindly ask you to accept the “old” EULA one more time.
Our community means a lot to us, and we are not ready to sacrifice our relationship for some marketing budget optimization. Thank you for taking the time to explain your concerns to us. And once again, we are sorry for the inconvenience this update has caused you.

 

[Philistine]

At least they DID remove it reasonably promptly. Consider other folks who have this kind of thing (or worse) packaged in for months, years, or in perpetuity.

 

[Redglyph]

That's a pretty sick move. And I bet that if you declined the EULA, you couldn't play the game anymore (at least on Steam, which forces you to have the latest version)?

 

[JDR13]

I'm not sure what surprised me more... that they tried tried to insert it or the fact that the patch is 26GB.

 

[Couchpotato]

Shit I've had to re-download both their games on GOG multiple times because of how they get patched so much. So yeah that 26gb patch not that surprising to me.

 

[purpleblob]

Great.. now I will wait for a hotfix to release before I even open up Steam..

 

[SpoonFULL]

Their reasoning for adding this spyware is even worse:

"It's an industry standard for the games, all of the mobile games use it and a lot of PC and PS/XBOX too.
And as a publisher we want to make our ads as good as possible, because we love our games and want the best for them "

Probably that's why the industry is getting worse because of such standards. Who knows what other "industry standards" are injected into the software and games we install from this industry!

 

[Zloth]

The idea that it didn't cross their mind that it would be a big deal is beyond me.

Given how fast they were able to pull it out again, I'm wondering if maybe somebody at Owlcat suspected this would happen and made sure there was the programming equivalent of a trap door, so the feature could be yanked fast.

It doesn't seem like it's grabbing very interesting information - I know I sent them far, far more along with my crash reports.

 

[purpleblob]

installed hotfix, re-accepted EULA and have been monitoring outbound traffic - nothing suspicious so far, so I'm happily back to my current run

 

[Redglyph]

installed hotfix, re-accepted EULA and have been monitoring outbound traffic - nothing suspicious so far, so I'm happily back to my current run

One evil crushed, another one to go!

 

[Kos]

I really loved the 'Most of the companies known for their really bad business practices in the industry do it, where is the problem?'
What is next? Cryptomining?
I think I will give a huge pass to their next games, it's not like we are not spoiled for choice on how to waste our free time.

 

[notdart]

Oh well another company to avoid.... just as well.