Borderlands players have been review-bombing the games on Steam recently because of the updated Terms of Service that appeared in their games. Since some of you have been asking Me(ntalMars) questions about the new Borderlands EULA, I wanted to bring your attention to this official response that was posted on the Borderlands Steam channel.
Table of contents
Official Dev Statement
Hi everyone –
We know there have been some concerns from Borderlands fans about Take-Two’s Terms of Service. Maintaining transparency and confidence with the community here is always our goal, and we wanted to address some of these concerns.
(1) Take-Two Does Not Use Spyware
Take-Two does not use spyware in its games. Take-Two’s Privacy Policy applies to all labels, studios, games, and services across all media and platform types such as console, PC, mobile app, and website. The Privacy Policy identifies the data activities that may be collected but this does not mean that every example is collected in each game or service.Take-Two identifies these practices in its Privacy Policy to provide transparency to players and comply with its legal obligations. Take-Two collects this information to deliver its services to players, including to protect the game environment and player experience. You can read more about this in the Privacy Policy.
For example, player and device identifiers are collected in part to ensure the game is compatible with each player’s media, platform or website browser type. It allows us to better understand how players play games, and to personalize the user experience (like having usernames show up!). Account credentials are collected from users who choose to create accounts with Take-Two and its labels.
(2) Take-Two Does Not Permit Abusive Mods
Borderlands Developer
Take-Two’s Terms of Service prohibit mods that allow users to gain an unfair advantage, negatively impact the ability of other users to enjoy the game as intended, or allow users to gain access to content that the user is not entitled to. We do this to protect the integrity of the game experience for all users. Take-Two generally does not seek to take action against mods that are single-player only, non-commercial, and respect the intellectual property (IP) rights of its labels and third parties.
My Perspective
To Me(ntalMars), the updated ToS looked like a general legal safeguard across all of Take-Two’s games, as some stuff didn’t apply to the Borderlands games, and that looks to be confirmed.
The handling of credit card data didn’t make sense as the games don’t use that data. It would make sense if the games had their own in-game store outside of the platforms (PlayStation/Microsoft/Steam/EPIC) and needed to handle the transaction. This is currently not relevant, but I could see future games contain their own storefront as EPIC Games forced Google’s and Apple’s hand with the 30% marketplace fee and basically won. Now, EPIC Games is adding tools to Unreal Engine that lay the groundwork for Devs to build their own marketplace. Then again, that Credit Card data is then needed to finalize the purchase. Things could be stored so you don’t have to fill out the same details over and over again.
Reading that Take-Two’s Privacy Policy also applies to their websites means that the Credit Card data is handled when you purchase something through the 2K Store, for example. It was probably easier/cheaper to create 1 EULA that covers everything than tailoring it to each platform/game/ect.
I’m glad to read they are not going after the Modding community because they have made a lot of awesome content for the Borderlands community. Technically, they could have done this for years but if you aren’t ruining someone else’s fun, you are good.
One time, 2K stepped in when some folks started revealing unreleased DLC ahead of time. In the past, Gearbox has shipped 2 DLCs in 1 Patch. The second DLC would unlock through a micro-patch, as console platforms charged a fee for every patch that had to go through. So they bundled the content in order to save money, however, folks found out and started playing it, and 2K had to protect their IP. Leaking stuff doesn’t fly with them or other companies.
I know EU Laws have some more privacy/consumer protections. Companies like Facebook, for example, want your Phone Number because it’s a unique ID they can use cross-platform. That way, they can target you more effectively, but it’s based on larger data sets; “These types of people generally like ABC, therefore, it’s more effective to do/market XYZ”. But you probably already know this if you are on social media.
ToS Deep Dive
Mutahar took a look at Borderlands and how it’s been embroiled in an allegation that its new TOS can actually spy on you.
