Steam will no longer use Google Analytics

As of July 1, 2023, steam will stop using Google Analyticsas previously announced valve In a post on his official blog. The update is part of a series of changes aimed at better protecting user privacy and strengthening internal systems:

All of the tools and features described here were created with Privacy of players Steam will continue not to share personally identifiable information. This approach to privacy means that some compromises are made that limit the level of detail of some reports. In most cases, this simply means that all traffic sources below a certain volume threshold will be listed as “Other”. We do not collect or store demographic information about our users, such as age, gender, or ethnicity. “

The decision was made under lockdown Universal Analytics in July. The introduction of Google Analytics 4 has allowed many to choose other solutions to monitor their traffic. Steam itself already has internal reporting, which will be enhanced to include geographic data and better identify external sources.

There are also updates for UTM system Steam, which is designed to track marketing campaigns, where we can read about the upcoming major news:

Higher tracking rate: We’ve worked to better track when a user follows a UTM link from a website and then goes to the Steam desktop client to complete the transaction. This conversion data will be reported in aggregate without revealing any personal information.
One-day conversion tracking: We’re working on some technical issues that were limiting the frequency of conversion rate tracking updates. UTM campaigns will soon start reporting conversions within 24 hours. Our conversion window will last for 3 days, so you may see an increase in your traffic and conversions when you look at your stats from previous days.
Geographical division: Traffic reports will soon include geographic categorizations of visitors to your store page. This can be especially useful for choosing which languages ​​to support in a game or for setting up servers for a multiplayer game.
Visitor device class: We’ll detail the type of device used (“mobile” and “desktop”) for each campaign so you know in general how your audience is learning about your game.
Comparison of new and previous users: We’ll break down our stats to allow you to see what percentage of visits are from new players versus previous players who already know your game.