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If a game, application, device or EULA changes in a way you find unacceptable, after you've purchased it, you should be able to get your initial purchase price back. And if you paid with your data, you need to be able to demand they delete all your data. I think that law would be entirely reasonable and would do a lot of good.
They added spyware to it.
Here is excerpt from the tos, shared by user in steam reviews of the game.
important Info in Terms of Service:
• Mods are a bannable offense • Display of Cheats/Exploits is bannable • Forced arbitration clause and a waiver of class action and jury trial rights for all users residing in the United States and any other territory other than Australia, Switzerland, The United Kingdom, or The Territories of The European Economic Area • You can be banned for using a VPN while connecting to online servers • Cannot access game content on a Virtual PC
Collected Data Types: • Identifiers / Contact Information: Name, user name, gamertag, postal and email address, phone number, unique IDs, mobile device ID, platform ID, gaming service ID, advertising ID (IDFA, Android ID) and IP address • Protected Characteristics: Age and gender • Commercial Information: Purchase and usage history and preferences, including gameplay information • Billing Information: Payment information (credit / debit card information) and shipping address • Internet / Electronic Activity: Web / app browsing and gameplay information related to the Services; information about your online interaction(s) with the Services or our advertising; and details about the games and platforms you use and other information related to installed applications • Device and Usage Data: Device type, software and hardware details, language settings, browser type and version, operating system, and information about how users use and interact with the Services (e.g., content viewed, pages visited, clicks, scrolls) • Profile Inferences: Inferences made from your information and web activity to help create a personalized profile so we can identify goods and services that may be of interest • Audio / Visual Information: Account photos, images, and avatars, audio information via chat features and functionality, and gameplay recordings and video footage (such as when you participate in playtesting) • Sensitive Information: Precise location information (if you allow the Services to collect your location), account credentials (user name and password), and contents of communications via chat features and functionality.
I wouldnt touch anything this company has produced.
They added spyware to it.
No, they didn't.
Just because something sounds outrageous, doesn't mean it is true.
Borderlands 2 hasn't been updated since 2022:
Borderlands - Last updated: 3 August 2016 Borderlands 2 - Last updated: 4 August 2022 Borderlands 3 - Last updated: 8 August 2024
No Borderlands titles include anti-cheat: https://areweanticheatyet.com/?search=borderlands
Here is another person, 7 years ago trying the exact same outrage-based engagement farming strategy of linking a TOS update and implying a nefarious intent: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/8naopt/take_two_a_spyware_apocalypse/ It's exactly the same "Take two is spying on you!!!" content and yet, none of the Borderlands games have added spyware and none have added kernel anti-cheat.
Also, if you read the 2018 and 2025 TOS you will notice notice that the information that they collect in the 2025 TOS ( https://www.take2games.com/legal/en-US/ ) is exactly the same as it was in 2018.
TL;DR - Just because you read it on the Internet, doesn't mean it is true.
Interesting. So the terms of service have not changed, and yet people are saying that they did. I wonder if there are criticisms that are still valid. For example, the terms of service that you linked:
So, coming back to the original claim you were debunking:
They added spyware to it.
Your response was
No, they didn’t.
And after reading their terms of service and privacy policy, I agree with you. If it is true that they haven't changed their terms of service, then they didn't add it. Instead, it was always there. They have always said that they gather "details about... other information related to installed applications" on my device for purposes that can include merging and selling my data to data brokers and ad networks.
I sometimes wonder what I casually believe because I read it while scrolling for something interesting. I don't have the time or inclination to fact check every single detail I come across.
I'm sure I believe a lot of nonsense from reading the Internet.
That's okay, we're just human. The problem is when people try to 'inform' people of things that they 'know' from reading social media. That's how these situations are created, so many people believe this because so many other people believe it and then repeat it as fact without themselves ever checking.
It's like a feedback loop of ignorance, caused entirely by people who care more about getting social credit for talking and less about saying things that are true.
Totally. And then these rebuttals are time consuming to fact check too.
I just don't understand anticheat or copy protection on PvE games. I can understand it if you don't want to play against a cheater, but this is a cooperative shooter.
See you're looking at it from the point of view that it would serve the player experience, but that's not what it's for, it's to mine your data
I sometimes wonder what will happen when EAC, that has root access to millions of PCs, gets compromised or has grunty employee and pushes malicious update
Same thing that happened to genshin when it's anti cheats got compromised I would guess. Not a lot and everyone ends up not caring.
Because normal people do not give a single fuck about the technical aspect of data privacy.
That's right. I'm not lying at all when I say that none of my friends care about privacy. It's actually quite frustrating.
Yup, same here. As long as it's convenient, my friends/family don't care what is taken from them.
It probably spys on you already.
The company that makes the Overwolf game launcher is an Israli cyber security company that gets money from the US.
Tencent spys on people for China through a lot of the games they own.
Holy fuck I did not know about Overwolf. That's the last time I download something from my, apparently, dipshit friend (no, this is not the only stupid thing he's done).
I think it's kind of ironic you call your friend apparently a dipshit for not knowing something you also didn't know... pot calling the kettle black & all.
You literally posted the answer to your question. Here is an expansion of the details.
I haven't read the new TOS but if this review is correct it looks like a GDPR nightmare for them. Good luck to them explaining why they need to collect all that personal data.
Ok so that explains the bad reviews, but why is steam giving the game away for free? Also BL3 is heavily discounted
I think it's up to the publisher, and not steam, to give the game away for free.
Probably because borderlands 4 is on the horizon and sweat-gland randy caught some flag for tweets.
My guess is that it was planed to be good PR.
Publisher made it free to propagate their spyware.
Don't just review bomb it
Yikes. Is the review in the screenshot true? They got root anticheat? Or rootkit data harvesting?
He said they added a kernel level anticheat in the TOS which is true. But they seem to have not included it in the game yet. But they tell that by possedong the game you allow them to. Edit : typo but can't correct "possedong" now
We should be done coddling the late comers at this point. Yes welcome them and accept them, but at a certain point your level of ignorance became a detriment to your community and you should be made aware of that fact.
Its a bit more than that:
Would it shock you to know that ALL of these are in the Steam terms of service also?
The only really sus one to me is the forced arbitration clause, and Steam also had that til they were pressured to remove it by multiple legal cases, including a class action brought to them by Steam users just last September. It is only sus because it's outdated - companies are generally removing them now rather than adding them. https://www.legal.io/articles/5540864/Valve-Removes-Mandatory-Arbitration-from-Steam-Subscriber-Agreement
RE: remaining top 5 bullet points, 3 of the remaining 4 bullet points are uncontroversial bullet points about anticheat. The fourth is banning modding, which is also just a heavy handed anticheat attempt, and not uncommon for online games to add to their ToS to allow banning at their discretion. Either way its clumsy at the least as some mods can be harmless eg HUD mods for colourblind people and deserves some negativity - but not to this level, given everything else is just so boilerplate.
Collected data types: these are all for if you buy stuff with a credit card / paypal / etc off 2k/parent company Take 2. Remember, they sell games with in-game purchases. They also have an app which has location permissions option which is what the precise location is about.
So yes - again, as OP said, this is nothing controversial if you have paid attention to ToS meaning and content over the past 20 years.
Aside from the forced arbitration crap - which Steam, Microsoft, Amazon, Lyft, Uber, Google, AT&T - and hundreds of other major companies all snuck into their ToS over the years, and many have now been legally pressured to remove by consumer rights group. That is stupid because it shows their legal team is behind the times, companies are mostly removing their forced arbitration clauses nowadays because it has been the cause of many lost class actions.
Doesn’t the screenshot you posted explain what’s going on?
LOL. I loved the Borderlands franchise, until Epic made their evil dog shit app store and the Borderlands devs sold out to them. Motherfuck Borderlands forever now. Thanks for the warning so I don't accidentally reinstall any of it from Steam.