Nexus Mods, "the biggest modding platform in the world," has just acquired SteamDB: "We don't take the responsibility of becoming its next steward lightly"

From hosting the best Skyrim mods to some of the wildest fan overhauls for The Witcher 3, Nexus Mods is well known as the go-to spot for modding any and every PC game – and, now, it's also the parent company of SteamDB.

In case you're not familiar with the latter, SteamDB came to life back in 2013 as a fan project led by Pavel "xPaw" Djundik and Marlamin. The two were interested in Valve's ever-growing catalogue of computer games, hoping to track them and their updates.

Since then, it's grown into the largest free database containing just about everything on Steam's listings, from their price histories to their expansions to… well, you name it, honestly.

Understandably, it's not an easy database to manage – and that's why, as xPaw writes in a new announcement, Nexus Mods has officially acquired SteamDB.

"When Marlamin and I decided to start this project back in 2013, we were driven by pure curiosity and a desire to make helpful public services for the community," he recalls. "We were young and passionate" – and, of course, fans "of Valve's games."

That's why "creating a project like SteamDB has been a natural progression of that drive," but it got big… huge, even.

"Years went on," as xPaw states, "and the site kept growing and the amount of relentless work kept increasing. Marlamin decided to step back from the project for personal reasons. That was around the time Steam Direct launched, and the number of games and new users has exploded since then."

With its increased size came increased difficulty in management. "With its helpfulness came growth, but that doesn't come for free," as xPaw says. "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. It was pure passion, and the ever increasing self inflicted workload has taken its toll."

According to the SteamDB mastermind, he began "experiencing burnout."

He tried to search for a new team to take over, but he couldn't find anybody reliable, so he stuck it through. Nothing ever got easier, though.

"Steam keeps growing, in terms of games, players, and the number of new features being added. It's hard to keep on top of this alone, and the mental load has only kept increasing, and in good conscience I cannot continue like this. Running a service like SteamDB is not easy."

One thing that xPaw isn't willing to do, however, is let the database go down. So, he once again embarked on a journey to find help in January – and, "This is where Nexus Mods comes in."

Much like SteamDB, as its creator points out, Nexus Mods "grew from a passion project into a service relied upon by tens of millions of people." This means a lot to xPaw, as he wanted a team that understands his own position.

Despite fans' fears regarding the acquisition – which I've already seen making the rounds on X and Reddit – he assures that "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."

As for the folks over at Nexus Mods itself, CEO Victor Folmann and founder of Chosen, its parent company, issued a statement.

"SteamDB is exactly the kind of project we want to be a home for," it reads. "Pavel has spent 13 years building something remarkable that millions of gamers, developers and publishers have come to rely on. We don't take the responsibility of becoming its next steward lightly. Our job isn't to change what makes SteamDB special."

Instead, it's to provide resources and the long-term stability it deserves," Folmann explains.

"There will be things we want to improve and new things we want to build, but we'll do that thoughtfully. SteamDB has earned the trust of its community over more than a decade, and our job is to earn the right to carry that trust forward."

What are those things, though? Well, there's no real way to tell until either xPaw or Nexus Mods announce them. Here's hoping it all works out regardless… I know I personally frequent both sites, anyway.

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