Question about Steam Web API/getting profile data

[0u1st1t1]

Hi.

I'm teaching myself data science and thought it would be fun to apply things I've learned to my game stats. But according to https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Steam_Web_API apparently I can access profile-specific info only if I'm a publisher API Key Owner. So I was wondering if there's a way to get my game stats in a nice format (e.g. .csv) for private use.

Thanks.

[MalikQayum]

you don't need a publisher api key, a regular api key is fine for what you need to do as both types of keys wont bypass any privacy settings (they both honor the privacy settings.)

A publisher key belongs to a publisher/developer, it is meant to be used for their own appid(s).
They can't not use their publisher api key on other developers/publishers appids.
Basically that means if they use it on their own appids they can circumvent the user privacy settings as it may be relevant for the said publisher/developer to retrieve some data from users.

https://steamcommunity.com/dev/apikey
^generate a key here and you should be good to go.

All data will retrieved in json format, so you would need to convert the json to csv on your own but that should not be an issue in itself.

[s1ma]

ру

[0u1st1t1]

Originally posted by MalikQayum:

you don't need a publisher api key, a regular api key is fine for what you need to do as both types of keys wont bypass any privacy settings (they both honor the privacy settings.)

difference is that a publisher key can be tied to a appid or set of appids by that publisher, which will grant that publisher access to stuff that would normally be private but since it may be relevant for the publisher for their own appids they are granted access to view that regardless of the users privacy settings.
(keep in mind, a publisher can only add appids to the publisher key in which the publisher has rights over, they can't add just any appid they feel like)

https://steamcommunity.com/dev/apikey

^generate a key here and you should be good to go.

additionally all data will retrieved in json format, so you would need to convert the json to csv which is not a big issue.

Thanks a lot for your explanation. I had seen the page you linked to but I was confused because I assumed I had to link to the project I was planning to use the data for to be able to make an API key legally.

[MalikQayum]

ye it is pretty common to think you need a website to get the api key, i guess valve just worded this in a way to make people think that but you can litterally put anything you want into the domain field and it will accept it.

if valve by chance is reading this, they should probably reword it since the key is tied to the steam account that generates it, also perhaps just skip the "Domain Name" overall as it is pointless.