Ownership and operations of PC gaming data service SteamDB are changing to Chosen, the parent company of Nexus Mods. SteamDB and Nexus Mods announced the acquisition via their respective official blogs on September 2.
| 📒 | - Chosen becomes new owner and operator of SteamDB - Existing free features, branding, and separate account system retained - Integration of game version history with modding tools under consideration |
SteamDB is a third-party database rather than a service operated directly by Valve. It collects and provides data such as concurrent player counts, regional price histories, update logs, and changes to builds, depots, and manifests for games listed on Steam. SteamDB was co-founded by xPaw and Marlamin in 2013.
After co-founder Marlamin stepped back from the project, xPaw essentially ran the service alone for a long time. Although it started as a hobby project, as Steam's game catalog, user base, and feature set expanded, the workload grew to a level comparable to a full-time job. Due to the mounting workload and burnout, xPaw concluded that continuing to run it alone was unsustainable and revealed that he had been searching for a partner for long-term operations since January of this year.
Chosen, the new operating entity, also owns Nexus Mods. However, SteamDB will maintain its existing name, branding, website, and community, operating as a separate service from Nexus Mods. Users can access SteamDB without creating a Nexus Mods account. All currently available features and data will be preserved, with a policy that existing free features will not be turned into paid ones.
xPaw stated, "SteamDB stays SteamDB," explaining that the goal of this transition is to secure the necessary staffing, development capabilities, and long-term stability for the service. He will assist the new team with the handover over the coming months. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed in either party's official announcement.
Chosen plans to assign dedicated personnel and infrastructure to SteamDB while strengthening security and scalability. Maintenance and development of the browser extension will also continue. While SteamDB has relied on Steam keys donated by users to track game files and depots, the new operator will now cover the cost of purchasing necessary game keys.
Over the long term, they are exploring ways to connect SteamDB's game builds, depots, manifests, and file and version history with mod management tools. This could allow mod managers to compare a user's game version with the version for which a mod was created, or to provide advance warning about compatibility issues stemming from game updates. Nexus Mods presented this as a possibility to improve the stability of mod installation and collection management, but drew a line stating that it is not yet a confirmed feature or a promised release.
Following the announcement, some users expressed concerns about paywalls or changes to monetization methods. According to the published FAQ, currently free features will remain free, and there are no plans to introduce display or programmatic advertising. However, affiliate links or partnerships may be considered over the long term, and no decisions have been made regarding whether newly developed features in the future will carry a fee.
