SteamDB has officially been sold to Nexus Mods, bringing one of the most popular resources for Steam users under new ownership. The website was originally launched in 2013 by xPaw and Marlamin as a passion project, but it eventually grew into a service used by millions of gamers, developers, and publishers.

For more than a decade, SteamDB has provided users with detailed information about Steam games, including pricing history, player numbers, game updates, builds, depots, manifests, and other data that is not always easy to find through Steam itself. While the site started as a hobby, maintaining it became an increasingly demanding job for xPaw after Marlamin stepped away from the project.

SteamDB became unsustainable for a one-man team

In his announcement, xPaw explained that the workload had grown to the point where running SteamDB alone was no longer sustainable. He said that changes to the internet after COVID and the rise of AI also affected his passion for the project. “The internet we once loved is gone,” says xPaw, and all these factors, alongside burnout, have contributed to him stepping away.

After previously trying to find someone who could take over, he eventually began searching for a suitable long-term partner earlier this year. That search led to Nexus Mods. The company says SteamDB will remain its own service, keeping its name, branding, community, and identity. Users should not expect major changes in the short term, and everything currently available for free will remain free. The SteamDB browser extension will also continue to be maintained, while its Discord and Steam groups will remain separate community spaces.

What mattered most to me was finding a team that understands what it means to be responsible for something the community depends on, and that shares my belief in building useful tools for gamers.

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.

I have full confidence the team will be able to continue improving the project for gamers, developers and publishers alike.

xPaw, SteamDB founder

Nexus Mods does plan to invest more resources into SteamDB behind the scenes. The company says the site will now have a properly funded team, along with better infrastructure, security, and room to scale. This should also give the team more time to work on long-standing improvements, expand game coverage, and continue developing existing tools.

“I have full confidence the team will be able to continue improving the project for gamers, developers, and publishers alike. I will be helping the team ensure a smooth transition in the coming months,” xPaw added.

One of the most interesting possibilities involves modding. Nexus Mods already collects Steam game information, but SteamDB has years of historical data covering game builds, depots, manifests, files, and updates. Bringing these resources together could eventually help Nexus Mods better understand which version of a game a player is running.

This could be especially useful when game updates break mods. In the future, Nexus Mods wants to explore systems that can identify whether a mod was created for a specific game version and warn users when an upcoming update could cause compatibility problems. Collections could also potentially specify the exact game version they were built for.

About the Author

Abdul Haddi

Abdul is a tech writer and Editor for PC Guide, specializing in all things tech, gaming, and hardware.