Why did the GDC remove HTSeq for gene expression quantification?

HTSeq had been the default RNA-Seq expression quantification tool since the first GDC data release. The GDC later updated the RNA-Seq alignment and quantification workflow to include STAR Count, which generates stranded counts by default in addition to the existing unstranded counts. During Data Release 32 for gene model updates, the GDC had 1) augmented the existing STAR Count output to include FPKM and FPKM-UQ normalizations; 2) reprocessed all the TCGA data using the latest RNA-Seq workflow with STAR Count. Because both tools use very similar counting strategies, and STAR Count has the advantages in both running time and the additional stranded counts, the GDC removed HTSeq workflow in Data Release 32.