Gameplay.Science vs PlayTracker

Gameplay.Science is an open-source web platform for independent research on video games using behavior data donated by players. It is designed to support studies without requiring direct participation from game platforms. Players can contribute digital trace data through Steam or Discord connections, account integrations such as Steam or Xbox, or GDPR requests. Account linking lets a participant sign in and authorize automatic access to gameplay data. UK and EU players can request data held by a gaming company under GDPR and share it with researchers. The project aims to cover how long people play, what they do in games, and who they interact with. A study using the platform describes Steam authentication through OpenID, public Steam gameplay details, and hourly collection of each game’s incremental playtime. That study says data was stored on encrypted servers accessible only to the research team. Steam and Xbox are listed as supported ecosystems.

PlayTracker connects gaming platform profiles and combines games, achievements, statistics and activity graphs in one place. It can import and sync data from platforms including Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, GOG, EA Origin, Battle.net and Guild Wars 2. Players can combine libraries and achievements, customize profiles, follow friends, compare achievements and use leaderboards. Quest adds cross-platform achievement challenges, seasonal rewards, Guilds and friend-created challenges. Insight provides game ownership and active-player estimates, historical activity graphs, playtime and engagement statistics, and audience overlap analysis. The Windows desktop app runs through Overwolf and includes pinned achievements, notes, challenges, relevant statistics and friends who play. The free service is for gamers. Indie costs €12 a month; Pro costs €80 a month and includes Lens audience segmentation. Enterprise offerings can include extra seats, custom surveys, training, support and API access. PlayTracker lists web, Windows, Android and iOS platforms, though no mobile app is listed.