Pathfinder dev Owlcat ditches advertising tracking solution after fan backlash
Owlcat Games has quickly u-turned on its decision to introduce an advertising tracking solution called AppsFlyer into Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous due to a fan backlash that surpassed its "worst expectations."
As highlighted by PC Gamer, the studio rolled out an update earlier this week that included AppsFlyer–which it said is "used by marketers to improve ad campaigns–to help it better understand the impact of its advertising efforts.
Notably, the inclusion of AppsFlyer would require existing players to read and agree to an updated End User License Agreement (EULA) before playing.
In a lengthy Steam Q&A explaining what data AppsFlyer would collect, Owlcat explained players would essentially be agreeing to hand over IP addresses, timestamps detailing the date and time their game was launched, the OS version of the PC they're running, their platform of choice (i.e. Steam), and their game version and game ID.
The studio said that data would essentially be used to form a "fingerprint" that would be sent to the AppsFlyer server to be cross-referenced and matched with existing data provided by ad platforms and websites.
"Studios and publishers need to understand the impact of their advertising efforts," offered Owlcat, explaining why that process would be useful. "It helps improve advertisement strategies a lot, especially when they lack massive budgets to bombard everyone with their ads."
The response from players was blunt. Responding to that Q&A on Steam, some questioned why the use of AppsFyler was mandated instead of being opt-in, while others took the opportunity to tell Owlcat they'd no longer be purchasing the studio's products.
"Your game is uninstalled until you remove this. And there is zero chance I ever buy a
Read more on gamedeveloper.com
