World's biggest modding site buys the No. 1 Steam resource — and fans are worried

Published Sep 2, 2026, 11:59 AM EDT SteamDB users are worried the sale will lead to monetization, ads, and more Stock art for SteamGraphic: Polygon/Grant Walkup | Source image: Valve Sign in to your Polygon.com account The biggest game modding platform, Nexus Mods, just bought a staple of the gaming community: SteamDB. SteamDB is the main third-party database for tracking information Valve doesn’t surface on Steam, like the most-played games on the platform, concurrent player counts, and traffic over time. It’s a great resource for seeing which multiplayer games have active communities. It is also useful for tracking game prices over time to see if you’re getting the best deal, calculating a game's potential sales, and more. SteamDB was largely being run by a single person, Pavel “xPaw” Djundik, who explained that the main reason he is selling the site is fatigue. “I have always considered SteamDB to be my hobby, but the amount of hours I have worked on it could be considered a full-time job,” xPaw wrote in a post announcing the sale. “It was pure passion, and the ever-increasing self-inflicted workload has taken its toll.” They criticized the rise of AI and how it sapped their love for the internet, adding that it has become nearly impossible to keep up with the number of new games and features added to Steam. “Running a service like SteamDB is not easy,” xPaw added. “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself by either just letting the site run as-is and letting it wither, or completely shut it down. In January, I started looking for a worthy partner that could continue the legacy that I had built. This is where Nexus Mods comes in.” He argued that Nexus Mods is also familiar with serving game communities and wrote: “SteamDB will continue to be SteamDB. The goal is not to change what makes the project special, but to give it the resources, development capacity and long-term stability that I could no longer provide alone.” What are reactions to the news like? Despite xPaw’s assurances that the platform is in good hands, many fans are worried. “This doesn’t sound good,” a Reddit user wrote. “You don’t like clicking thousand times the download button when installing mod packs? I’m sure they will find a way to integrate that feature with the DB,” another replied. X users were similarly skeptical, with the most liked comments on a post announcing the news reading, “possibly the worst team that could've acquired it” and “Nexus? Freaking shit show platform. It will just get worse.” Last year, Nexus Mods was acquired by Chosen, a company focused on "uncompromised growth," according to its website. Many are concerned that this new owner will introduce forms of monetization used on Nexus Mods like obnoxious ad banners and subscription plans. While SteamDB will likely remain the standard for viewing data on Steam for some time, we'll have to wait and see how the new ownership handles things.