You know that really big publisher, the one that doesn’t have a problem squeezing cash out of gamers with loot boxes? Well here’s one for you. Apparently, they are too tight to take out a premium account on Steam Spy.
Someone at EA has been spidering Steam Spy to collect data instead of taking out an Enthusiast account for $10 which would give them access to all the data. After checking their logs this appeared:
Someone is crawling the site from the same IP constantly triggering the anti-DOS protection.
– Let's see, it's probably some poor indie that can't afford to pay $10 for the exports feature
Checks the logs.
– Oh. pic.twitter.com/VOCLMWtUaX
— Steam Spy (@Steam_Spy) December 12, 2017
This is so sad that it’s prompted Steam Spy to give every account with ea.com on it access to an Enthusiast account which only costs $10.
OK, it's probably an intern or something. No data analyst would do something this stupid several days in a row.
So, I just gave every Steam Spy user with https://t.co/vvOqYwUV1H email a free Enthusiast account until the end of the year.
Just use it, buddy, don't crawl.
— Steam Spy (@Steam_Spy) December 12, 2017
We know that things may be a little tight over at EA following disappointing Star Wars Battlefront 2 sales but surely it can’t be that bad? This must have been a mistake because it’s so cheap to gain access to all the historical data and exports. Whatever the reason is, it’s a bad mistake and we can only hope it is an intern or someone who has no idea what they are doing. Amusing nevertheless.
Update: Thanks to Rokhaiil in the comments for this update which is also amusing if this is in fact what is going on.
https://twitter.com/DeanOfWeb/status/940762196413440002?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdisqus.com%2Fembed%2Fcomments%2F%3Fbase%3Ddefault%26f%3Dpcinvasion%26t_i%3D161131%2520https%253A%252F%252Fpcinvasion-com.go-vip.net%252F%253Fp%253D161131%26t_u%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fpcinvasion-com.go-vip.net%252Fea-too-tight-to-pay-steam-spy-10-for-data-exports-triggers-anti-dos-protection%26t_e%3DEA%2520too%2520tight%2520to%2520pay%2520Steam%2520Spy%2520%252410%2520for%2520data%2520exports%2520%25E2%2580%2593%2520Triggers%2520anti-DOS%2520protection%26t_d%3DEA%2520too%2520tight%2520to%2520pay%2520Steam%2520Spy%2520%252410%2520for%2520data%2520exports%2520%25E2%2580%2593%2520Triggers%2520anti-DOS%2520protection%26t_t%3DEA%2520too%2520tight%2520to%2520pay%2520Steam%2520Spy%2520%252410%2520for%2520data%2520exports%2520%25E2%2580%2593%2520Triggers%2520anti-DOS%2520protection%26s_o%3Ddefault%26l%3D%23version%3Dac9ac9ca04088cdf6a1e0108d979ae7a
