Fans Demand that "Spyware" Red Shell is Removed from Games

It’s not uncommon for studios to slip some extra software into your PC when you buy a game – usually it’s some kind of necessary extension or DRM – but other times, it’s not so simple. That’s what countless developers are learning now that fans have started a violent outcry against “Red Shell," the so-called “spyware” that developers are shipping with their games.

Red Shell, which is a completely legal product, is bundled with a game and, when the game is downloaded, quickly scans the PC’s history to see if the player, at any point, clicked on a banner or video ad for the game they just downloaded. In that way, the developer can learn if their advertising played a role in the purchase of the final game. Red Shell claims that’s all it does – that no other private data is collected and that what it’s doing ultimately isn’t unusual – but for fans, what little it does is already too much, and they’ve begun demanding that several game studios take the software off their games.

Indeed, the reaction from the studios has been varied. ZeniMax, the developers of The Elder Scrolls Online, said that they would stop using Red Shell. The attitude was shared by Total War developer Creative Assembly, Fatshark, the folks behind Vermintide, and about a dozen others, although most of them were quick to say that despite removing the program they more-or-less stood beside it as a harmless marketing tool.

That said, there are still a lot of games that are known to have Red Shell installed. This includes Kerbal Space Program, Civilization VI, Injustice 2, Doodle God, Sniper Ghost Warrior 3, Warhammer 40k Eternal Crusade, and others.

Speaking as someone who works full-time in marketing, I would say that fans are perhaps being alarmist. But the customer is always right, so if they don’t like something, well… it’s time to go.