Other developers and publishers are standing by it, however, saying the app is useful and harmless.
... ...
"We have no interest in tracking people, just computers for the purposes of attribution. All of the data we do collect is
hashed for an additional layer of protection."
Those reassurances don't carry much weight in
this Reddit thread, however, which begins by pointing out that users typically don't have a say in whether or not Red Shell is installed in the first place. Games using the software "may offer an opt-out for any type of data/analytics services they use," Red Shell says, but that places the responsibility for declining the software entirely on the user, and could be in violation of
opt-in privacy laws—and that's assuming the developer makes the option available at all.
... ...
The list of games found to be running Red Shell is surprisingly broad, and includes everything from indies like Holy Potatoes! We're In Space? and My Time At Portia to high-profile hits including Civilization 6, Kerbal Space Program, The Elder Scrolls Online, and Vermintide 2. Some developers have promised to remove the software, but there's also widespread insistence that there is nothing sinister or spyware-like about it.