If you have ever checked a player count or sniffed a surprise Steam sale, you have used SteamDB. For 13 years it was basically one person: Pavel Djundik, xPaw. He burned out. Chosen, owner of Nexus Mods, is taking over.
What does not change on day one
- Same site, same URL, still free
- No Nexus account required to browse
- SteamDB keeps its own name — not an orange reskin
- The browser extension stays free
- They say they will not sell your personal data
- Stats publishers might not love are supposed to stay public
What does change
Chosen is blunt: SteamDB needs to make money. Donations plus stubbornness do not fund a real team. The promised model:
- No display ads (plan)
- No paywall on anything that exists today
- No login wall
- Yes to affiliate links and publisher partnerships
New features someday might cost money. Old features, they say, will not get locked up and sold back to you.
Why players side-eye it anyway
Nexus is 25 years old and mods are still free. It has also taken heat for redesigns, file-deletion rules, and pushing Vortex. The fear is boiling-frog monetization. That fear is rational. It is not evidence. Keep the FAQ.
What this means for you
Keep using it. If ads appear or charts vanish behind a login, the promise broke. Modders may get better patch-to-mod matching. Everyone else just wants player counts that still load.
Bottom line: SteamDB got a future instead of a shutdown. What stays free is everything you use today — on paper. Watch whether “needs to make money” stays in the affiliate lane.
GLHR NEWS explains the news. Not investment, tax, or trading advice. Do your own work before you act.
