Update: Leetify halts processing FACEIT demos due to expensive API changes
Counter-Strike 2 advanced statistics aggregator Leetify has announced that they will halt the processing of new FACEIT demos on their website due to FACEIT introducing a paid model for access to their demo API. According to Leetify, this change would result in them paying around €270k per year to access FACEIT demos, an untenable cost for the company, according to a blog post released by Leetify today.
In the blog post, Leetify explains that the company had been previously able to access FACEIT demos for free for a number of years before FACEIT announced in mid-February they would be moving to a paid model for API access. As previously mentioned, the costs associated with this access would amount to ~€270k according to Leetify, a fee that is allegedly more than Leetify's entire current operating budget.
Furthermore, Leetify alleges that FACEIT "only gave us a few days to react to the changes they imposed, which is simply not enough time to reach a good solution." On top of this timeframe, Leetify further argues that the cost for access is exorbitantly high with FACEIT also allegedly being uncooperative in providing details on "the specifics of pricing and how FACEIT will validate the number of downloads we make each month."
HLTV Senior Writer Danish "Nohte" Allana did point out on X that a September 2023 post in their Developer discord which announced FACEIT would be introducing a threshold for how many free downloads a service could have per month.
However, in a reply to Nohte's post, Leetify stated, "this change was first mentioned last year, but as noted no pricing was ever delivered, and every communication we had with them since indicated pricing wouldn't be pursued," alleging that FACEIT's communication on the change has shifted recently.
Communication with FACEIT is seemingly a key issue as Leetify alleges that despite two weeks of direct communication with FACEIT many of their concerns and questions have gone unresolved and unanswered, leaving them unable to make progress on a draft commercial agreement between the two companies. In particular, Leetify highlights issues with signing allegedly "restrictive NDAs" with ESL FACEIT Group, an unclear pricing model, and lack of clear communication regarding feedback from Leetify's end.
Leetify alleges that FACEIT explained that these changes were introduced as part of a company-wide cost-cutting initiative that Leetify feels is "short-sighted in only seeing this as a cost and not acknowledging the value created for their users."
It is important to note that these alleged cost-cutting measures follow ESL FACEIT Group's decision to lay off 15% of their workforce in late February as part of a move EFG argues will help "support [EFG]'s sustainable growth ambitions and profitability."
There is also a potential conflict of interest motive for ESL FACEIT Group as they are the owners of rival advanced statistics platform csstats.gg. cstats.gg features FACEIT demo integration, something that Leetify would be without should they be unable to come to an agreement with ESL FACEIT Group. This would likely be a major draw for the website which was acquired by ESL somewhere between 2016 and 2017.
Dust2.us reached out to ESL FACEIT Group PR for comment outside of normal operating hours. Dust2.us will post a follow-up should we hear back in future.
Update: ESL FACEIT Group has responded to Dust2.us' request for comment with the following statement:
Despite high costs associated with storing and transferring demo files, it has been important for us to ensure partners have free access to our API and the data they rely on for a number of years. With the integration of Counter-strike 2 in May 2023, we started re-evaluating our strategy around demo downloads as costs started increasing towards an unsustainable range.
In July 2023, we notified partners that we anticipated changes in pricing for our demos API and set limitations to ensure fair and equitable usage while working closely with partners to pave a path forward.
With the recent mid-February update to Counter-Strike nearly tripling those associated costs, it became clear that we needed to develop a more sustainable solution for our business in the respect of the needs and concerns from our partners.
We have since then collaborated with most and are looking to offer the API at-cost depending upon their usage and needs.
Dust2.us has reached out for further elaboration on whether or not Leetify is one of the partners FACEIT has collaborated with to offer API usage "at-cost".
