GamesThird Person ShooterSeveral Steam games changed names to Helldivers 2 and Palworld to scam playersWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesThird Person ShooterSeveral Steam games changed names to Helldivers 2 and Palworld to scam playersWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)
Palworld, Last Epoch and Escape from Tarkov were also impersonated, with the same strategy employed, and each Steam page for the fakes looking largely legit to a casual observer. At a glance, only the tiny number of reviews suggested something was not quite right.
The developers in question have used several different names. For instance, the developer behind Do Not Smile, which briefly masqueraded as Helldivers 2, was known asWhitehole Gamesuntil November, where it changed to Glamurny, and then became Fest Studios earlier this month. Whitehole/Glamurny/Fest was also behind the fake Last Epoch.
Fest also created afake Escape from Tarkov page, which isn’t even on Steam. So the first result on Google for “Escape from Tarkov Steam” is a scam.
Once upon a time Valve was heavily criticised for its draconian approach to letting games appear on Steam. It was extremely picky. Steam Greenlight, which was a kind of precursor to early access, opened the doors a bit back in 2012, but now they’re fully open, transforming Steam into the Wild West. The vast number of games available make discoverability a nightmare, and there’s no real quality control. Asset flips, games that simply do not function—they’re all given a home on Steam.
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What’s especially troubling is how simple it was for these phoney studios to masquerade as legitimate ones like Arrowhead. Some quick edits, some links, some official screenshots, and voila, a page that looks pretty dang real unless you actually scrutinise it. It’s no wonder that some customers fell for the scam.
TOPICSValve
TOPICS
PRODUCTSHelldivers 2PalworldLast EpochEscape From Tarkov
PRODUCTS
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