Chinese Steam Game 'Once Human' target of player scrutiny after it was discovered the game is riddled with Spyware

[John Elden Ring]

via MirrorUK

Starry Studio's Once Human was all set for a successful launch, but its release has been overshadowed by the terms of service that cite access to players' government ID as well as other personal info that set off red flags in the playerbase.

The excitement around Once Human and its post-apocalyptic, 'new weird' take on the sandbox survival genre has been eclipsed by the game's terms of service, which players are actually taking the time to read for once. Available on Steam, PC gamers are clutching their pearls when faced with Once Human's data collection policies in its terms of service and decrying it for an invasion of privacy at best, and an identity stealing, crypto mining, spyware-installing scam at worst. All because Starry Studios is part of the Chinese conglomerate NetEase.

But this particular campaign against NetEase seems to be rooted in racial fearmongering more than genuine concern over Once Human's data collection policy. You only need to look at Steam reviews and the community posts for that to become apparent. "This publisher sounded so Chinese with such personal data demands," says one, unlike Blizzard's incredibly American ToS which stands for freedom, patriotism, and bald eagles everywhere, while also asking for your government-issued ID where applicable. Or this one, calling the game Chinese spyware. Another post declares that Starry Studio is owned by NetEase, and NetEase is owned by China; ergo it's reasonable "to conclude that the government controls it's actions."