Valve really needs to get their shit together. Those low life scum should never be able to abuse the system like that. IMO enormous risk to valves reputation if scams like these can be so easily pulled off.
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It would make sense for new changes to require Steam approval before they are confirmed. Hoping that this doesn't penalize the developers and that the confirmations are given quickly. It would be a solution.
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Having all changes approved would create overload of work. For a system which has so many users they should probably create some rules - for example changing the name should definitely be approved by Steam, but changes like pictures, description and tags should be allowed to change, but should trigger a red flag when done massively (for example ALL achievements removed a year after release or all tags changed suddenly).. I mean its probably fine if developer decides to add something extra or refresh pictures and shouldn't go through lengthy approvals. But some automated system with filters and preconditions could potentially weed out abusers.
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I totally agree with you. This is something that Steam should seriously consider implementing to prevent it from happening again. It would be a simple solution that wouldn’t ultimately require too much work from Valve.
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Not for every change, but if you have a page that has been released, and want to change the game name specifically, that should require approval either way. If you're just adding "Platinum" or "DX" after a huge update, I'm sure Valve will allow it. But anything else... either way you're affecting existing or future customers in a certain way, should be inspected.
I remember reading from Valve employee in the dev forums once, when someone asked if they can reuse their existing page from a failed title for a new game, they said NO, people bought that expecting that, you can't take it away from them, make a new page for a new game.
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Palworld has the whole page removed yet EFT and Helldivers are simply removed from sale.
Plus the dev who did it twice is still selling their other trash games
https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=Bside%20Studio
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The links shows 0 games, so it sounds like Valve reached out to them as well :P
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It is good they removed the scam, but is why the developer of this scam still allowed to list other games on Steam? This kind of scam should get the developer completely banned.
https://steambase.io/developers/soleonboard-studio
https://steambase.io/developers/bside-studio
https://steambase.io/developers/albobs
The scammers other games are still listed on Steam, and are all cheap asset flip type games selling for 50 to 65 dollars.
Edit: beaten to the comment above by Channel28. But steambase lists a few more games than you find on Steam searching for Bside studio. Because for some games like Alvolution the developer quickly changed the listed developer on Steam so it doesn't appear in Steam search anymore.
Edit 2: Here are more scam developers, who pretended their 2D sidescrollers are the Last Epoch and Escape From Tarkov.
https://steambase.io/developers/whitehole-games
https://steambase.io/developers/fest-studio
And there's many more such developers, as technically the Steam "developers" can change the listed developer of the game on Steam to any developer they want. But it shouldn't be a problem for Steam to just see which games are all uploaded by the same account and ban them all. As I wouldn't be surpised if it is one or two people behind all of these scams. It would get rid of a lot of those overpriced asset flips on Steam and would be a great outcome from all this.
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Someone should probably contact Steambase to have those games removed. Otherwise people will still fall for the fakes.
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One of those Scam Games
has been "given" here as Furious Rage.
I Entered on the Last Epoch Scam to see the game, and it was hidden by me. (And I only hidden games on Steam when I see them here, so I searched for it and i found the giveaway)
https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/rLbgP/furious-rage
It would be nice to check where did the GA OP got his key (probably on a key site, but as the GA is marked as not received who knows what happened really)
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I can totally see that as the next DLC-collaboration
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I understand that due to the sheer amount of games Valve is to lazy to check everything manually. But scamming shouldn't be this easy. How hard can it be to implement a system which double checks if a release/game name change is identical or very similar to an already existing store page and then send an approval request to Valve.
Sure, there are games which are differnt though share the same name. But these cases are so few that it is reasonable to check them manually.
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I just flagged a bunch of those yesterday.
It does speak to the need for a more stringent process for getting your game accepted on Steam. "$100 and you're in" is a joke.
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What? This is actually so nuts. It looks believable too, that's the scary part.
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It's not really new, seen these in the past. Looks like it's becoming more popular though,
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Especially when the place where he's shopping does next to nothing to prevent him to be scammed out of his money.
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A petition by mellow_online to try and prevent these scams https://chng.it/xsCbYRzDHZ
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Hilarious that Valve doesn't have a system in place to prevent this already. It's not 1941. You can hire the best engineers in the world and they'll still forget to white/black test.
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"Valve has pulled a handful of fake Steam listings for Helldivers 2 that were different games disguised as the hugely popular co-op shooter to fool people into spending money.
Helldivers 2 community manager Twinbeard posted a warning on the game’s Discord that shone a light on the scam.
“There are unfortunately two (three now?!) fake games being marketed as Helldivers 2 on Steam at the moment,” Twinbeard said. “THESE ARE FAKE. They are not made by Arrowhead but they claim to be. We do not know what they contain, but they are not affiliated with us in any way.
“Our legal department is on it and we hope Valve will remove the products as soon as possible.
“The only two genuine copies are Helldivers 2 and Helldivers 2: Super Citizen Edition. BOTH OF OUR GENUINE GAMES WERE RELEASED FEBRUARY 8TH. All remaining Helldivers 2 games are fake.
“People posting as us trying to scam people is obviously very sad and frustrating, and for that as well as for security reasons we urge you to stay clear of them. Again, the only two Helldivers 2 products we market are Helldivers 2 and Helldivers 2 Super Citizen Edition. (I haven't had time to check the details on the fake store pages yet since I just got up.)
“Additional information will follow if or when there is any new information.”"
Thankfully, Valve has now pulled the fake Helldivers 2 listings, per an update this morning from Twinbeard: “All fake store pages now seem to have been taken down by Valve, who acted very swiftly after we reached out. We´ll assess everything in due time. Also, a big THANK YOU to everyone who DM:ed or pinged me/us about the fake pages and games. Together we stand.”
While Valve moved quickly to stamp out the scam Helldivers 2 pages, it appears the problem is not isolated to Arrowhead’s shooter. Palworld community chief Bucky tweeted to say there had been a “wave” of fake games that suddenly appeared on Steam today, a development they called “quite concerning.” According to Bucky, Steam took down a fake Palworld listing almost immediately after developer Pocketpair got in touch. “Hope no one was tricked into buying it!” Bucky said.
Valve is now facing questions over how these listings were able to make it onto Steam in the first place. The hope is of course that the high-profile nature of the fake Helldivers 2 Steam listings will cause Valve to close whatever loophole was exploited here.
Meanwhile, there’s plenty to be getting on with in the world of Helldivers 2, including the ongoing galactic war against the bugs and bots. As revealed this week, Arrowhead employs a “game master” who runs the Helldivers 2 campaign like a D&D dungeon master. Gameplay leaks have offered fans a closer look at the upcoming mechs, too."
https://www.ign.com/articles/valve-pulls-fake-steam-helldivers-2-games-but-devs-express-concern-they-appeared-in-the-first-place
https://steamdb.info/app/2607830/history/?changeid=22571535
https://steamdb.info/app/2630570/history/?changeid=22571411
https://steamdb.info/app/2607810/history/ > PALWORLD and i seen a game before doing it with GTA 5, so it isn't just Helldiver 2.
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