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They must have reasons for not wanting this figure to be public. If they didn't, they would just expose it directly via the API or in the UI instead of making p
by CamTin 8y ago
They must have reasons for not wanting this figure to be public. If they didn't, they would just expose it directly via the API or in the UI instead of making people solve a fun math puzzle to tease it out of other figures.
- derefr 8y agoIf they're the only one with the dataset, they can sell that dataset to publishers. If someone else scrapes the dataset from them, though, then that person or organization can then also sell it to publishers, reducing its market value when Valve goes to sell it. This is the same reason LinkedIn makes it so hard to scrape their graph.
- CamTin 8y agoSure, that's one possible reason. Whatever their actual motivations, one thing that we know for sure is that the don't want this data out there. Therefore it should be no surprise that they dull the accuracy on achievements as soon as it is reported that this can be used to divine the numbers. There's not a logically-consistent position Valve could have where they both a) don't want to provide the data directly, but are b) totally fine with you determining it with extreme precision based on other available data. Such a Valve does not and cannot exist.
- larsiusprime 8y agoI know tons of developers and publishers and I have never ever heard of Valve selling their dataset to publishers. Also based on the TOS that I signed with them as a developer (and presumably is the same for every other developer) it would be a violation of their contract with me to share my stats without my permission.