While Steam users have flocked to the new free-to-play survival game , members of the community are expressing concerns about the title's privacy policy. Whenever a game is released as «free» to an audience, many users will begin to question how the developers are making the necessary revenue to continue supporting their creation despite not charging any money for the core experience. In most cases, profits are generated through microtransactions, seasonal battle passes, or even adverts, but some players are concerned there's more going on.
Over on the Steam page, the game is currently sitting with an average review score of «Mixed» as members of the player base question the terms-of-service, citing security concerns as their primary issue with the experience. Several users allege that publisher NetEase has implemented a system that allows to mine Bitcoin with players' computers while others are worried that their privacy may be breached thanks to the privacy policy. The terms of service allow NetEase access to personal information like government-issued IDs, phone numbers, and credit card details.
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After the influx of concerns about the type of data being collected by, NetEase released an official statement on the game's Discord change (via PCGamesN):
“NetEase takes our users’ data privacy very seriously and adheres to the data privacy principles such as data minimization, purpose limitation, and transparency. For example, we would only collect government-issued IDs for the following reasons: where the local laws require us to do so (such as for a specific promotion), when the identity of a user’s parent must be verified to obtain consent for their child (if required by applicable child protection laws), or when the user wishes to correct their age information (again, if such verification is required by law). In
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