Here is a neatly looking list with explanations by Sentinels of the Store.
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| Asset Flip | Developer | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Pick The Lock | Simple Logic Games | Simple Logic Games |
| Plumber 3 | anyfreegame | anyfreegame |
| Police Chase | Cow Corp. | Cow Corp. |
| Police Hot Pursuit | Atomic Fabrik, Cristian Manolachi | Atomic Fabrik, Cristian Manolachi |
| Rabbit Canyon | QuickBobber | QuickBobber |
| Rosy Manga | 玫瑰工作室 | 玫瑰工作室 |
| Sakura Mochi | 玫瑰工作室 | 玫瑰工作室 |
| Shiny Summer | 玫瑰工作室 | 玫瑰工作室 |
| sniper | baicha | baicha |
| SnL | cBlck | cBlck |
| Snowy Love | 玫瑰工作室 | 玫瑰工作室 |
| Soft Wind | 玫瑰工作室 | 玫瑰工作室 |
| Sokonashi No Me | 玫瑰工作室 | Rosa Special Studio |
| Space Tower Defense | Atomic Fabrik, Cristian Manolachi | Atomic Fabrik, Cristian Manolachi |
| Splash Road | Crewxaa | Crewxaa |
| Spring Flower | 玫瑰工作室 | 玫瑰工作室 |
| Stapel | QuickBobber | QuickBobber |
| Sweet Halloween | 玫瑰工作室 | 玫瑰工作室 |
| Sweety Little Witch | 玫瑰工作室 | 玫瑰工作室 |
| The Explorer | SedSanGames | SedSanGames |
| The Zombie Smasher | Atomic Fabrik, Cristian Manolachi | Cristian Manolachi |
| Traffic Command: Reborn | hellydevelop | hellydevelop |
| Traffic Racing | REALBB | Gales Corp. |
| Truck Truck | Hede | Hede |
| True Spring Love | 玫瑰工作室 | 玫瑰工作室 |
| Van Van Up! | Atomic Fabrik, Cristian Manolachi | Atomic Fabrik, Cristian Manolachi |
| Village RPG | kazakovstudios | kazakovstudios |
| Vogue, The Explorer | Mihai Morosanu | Mihai Morosanu |
| vision\memory\maze | Simple Logic Games | Simple Logic Games |
| Watashi no Kokoro! 君の事が好きです。 | 玫瑰工作室 | 玫瑰工作室 |
| White Dandelion | 玫瑰工作室 | 玫瑰工作室 |
| White Flower | 玫瑰工作室 | 玫瑰工作室 |
| Zombies Killer Machine | Atomic Fabrik, Cristian Manolachi | Atomic Fabrik, Cristian Manolachi |
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| Name | Role | SteamDB page | Ignore on Steam |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adato Games | Publisher | Adato Games | - |
| Andreev Worlds (Alt name for Gamesforgames) | Developer | Andreev Worlds | - |
| Andreev Worlds (Alt name for Gamesforgames) | Publisher | Andreev Worlds | - |
| Azerbaijan Technology | Publisher | Azerbaijan Technology | - |
| Aztech (most likely alt name for Azerbaijan Technology) | Publisher | Aztech | - |
| Crossplatform | Developer | Crossplatform | - |
| DNA Army Gaming | Developer | DNA Army Gaming | Ignore on Steam |
| DNA Army Gaming | Publisher | DNA Army Gaming as publisher | Ignore on Steam |
| DODONET | Developer | DODONET | - |
| Duodli | Developer | Duodli | - |
| Falco Software (most likely alt name for kazakovstudios) | Developer | Falco Software | - |
| Gales Corp | Publisher | Gales Corp. | - |
| galesoozka (Alt name for Gales Corp.) | Developer | galesoozka | - |
| galesoozka (Alt name for Gales Corp.) | Publisher | galesoozka | - |
| Gamesforgames | Developer | Gamesforgames | - |
| Gamesforgames | Publisher | Gamesforgames | - |
| Gigantum Games | Publisher | Gigantum Games | - |
| Hede | Developer | Hede | - |
| Hede | Publisher | Hede | - |
| Hexaluga mines (most likely alt name for Hede) | Developer | Hexaluga mines | - |
| Indie Games Publisher | Publisher | Indie Games Publisher | - |
| kazakovstudios | Developer | kazakovstudios | - |
| kazakovstudios | Publisher | kazakovstudios | - |
| Kedexa | Developer | Kedexa | - |
| Kedexa | Publisher | Kedexa | - |
| khukhrovr | Publisher | khukhrovr | - |
| kovalevrme (most likely alt name for kovalevviktor) | Publisher | kovalevrme | - |
| kovalevviktor | Publisher | kovalevviktor | - |
| Neki4 Electronics | Developer | Neki4 Electronics | - |
| Neki4 Electronics | Publisher | Neki4 Electronics | - |
| Opg Euphore (Alt name for Gamesforgames) | Developer | Opg Euphore | - |
| Opg Euphore (Alt name for Gamesforgames) | Publisher | Opg Euphore | - |
| Phoenixxx Games | Developer | Phoenixxx Games | - |
| Phoenixxx Games | Publisher | Phoenixxx Games | - |
| Piece of Voxel | Developer | Piece of Voxel | Ignore on Steam |
| Piece of Voxel | Publisher | Piece of Voxel | Ignore on Steam |
| PixelArtGames | Developer | PixelArtGames | - |
| PixelArtGames | Publisher | PixelArtGames | - |
| Reactorjoy | Developer | Reactorjoy | - |
| Ready To Play | Developer | Ready To Play | Ignore on Steam |
| Ready To Play | Publisher | Ready To Play | Ignore on Steam |
| Ripknot Systems | Developer | Ripknot Systems | Ignore on Steam |
| Ripknot Systems | Publisher | Ripknot Systems | Ignore on Steam |
| Top-Down Games | Developer | Top-Down Games | - |
| TriponikaJik | Developer | TriponikaJik | - |
| Vitok | Developer | Vitok | - |
| Vitok | Publisher | Vitok | - |
| vuzimu (Alt name for Gamesforgames) | Developer | vuzimu | - |
| wow wow Games | Developer | wow wow Games | - |
| wow wow Games | Publisher | wow wow Games | - |
| Yash Future Tech Solutions Pvt Ltd | Developer | Yash Future Tech Solutions Pvt Ltd | Ignore on Steam |
| Yash Future Tech Solutions Pvt Ltd | Publisher | Yash Future Tech Solutions Pvt Ltd | Ignore on Steam |
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Reporting: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2067170/
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Reporting: https://store.steampowered.com/app/930480/
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Basically anything from the dev: https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=Beam%20Bong%20Games
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He actually put out a few games that got some good feedback, then it's like he said screw it one day and just started throwing out real crap.
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Fake reviews. All suspiciously short, and if you look at the actual profiles of those who reviewed the game, most are all blank with no other games and no play time.
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I leave it to you to set parameters, but fake reviews are a more easily identifiable transgression. High prices for money laundering or Steamgifts farming involves a lot more speculation, though if you can get such games added to the bundle list, that would be a huge win directly related to Steamgifts.
Good initiative! Many thanks!
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some devs use multiple accounts to report negative reviews and they get auto removed without anybody over at valve checking them. you can get them put back by contacting steam support sometimes, but it takes ages!
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Is other scummy reason allowed? I personally know one that flips when you put a negative review to their games...
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The Explorer (no longer available) and Vogue, the Explorer are both The Explorer: 3D Gamekit
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Thank you very much for this list, I appreciate the effort and time you put into it.
ATM I'm fighting with the 10k character limit for the Asset Flip-table.
Welcome to my daily struggle! 😅
Does anybody know if I can do a line break within a cell, so that I can have multiple lines within one single cell?
No, you can't. I tried a lot of things but it's not possible with SG's markdown.
Use non breakable spaces for the content and align them so that it shows the info on 2 rows (like it's done for the "Details" column in the bundle charts).
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SG tables have fixed-width column so if you wanted to push something to appear on a second line, you'd have to pad the first line with spaces until it reaches the max length.
But since the browsers interpret sequential spaces as a single one, you'd have to replace those with non breakable spaces (ALT+255).
So for example:
1 sp: a b
2 sp: a b (the browser sees it as a single space even though I typed 2)
1 nbsp: a b
2 nbsp: a b
You'd have to try it yourself and see how many nbsp you need to pad the text on what you want to be the "first line" until it reaches the maximum width.
The problem is that this makes an empty row between the two lines, which looks very ugly, plus you need to replace the spaces in-between words from the first line too, to keep them together.
And since the width of a comment and the with of the OP are different, you'll need different numbers of nbsp for each case.
Code:
Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3
:- | :- | :-
first line 1 second line 1 | first line 2 second line 2 | first line 3Result:
| Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 |
|---|---|---|
| first line 1 second line 1 | first line 2 second line 2 | first line 3 |
In bundle charts, the info is so crammed into a tight column and thus the arrangement is a bit easier; plus the middle align helps.
In short: I think you should just leave your tables as they are now, since this workaround adds a lot of ugliness. 😃
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One trick is to remove the name of the game from the link.
For example, you can just write https://store.steampowered.com/app/1903360 instead of https://store.steampowered.com/app/1903360/Amazing_Girl/.
Or you can shorten even further by using the official steam short link: https://s.team/a/1903360
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There's a lot of stuff like this on Steam, so taking on a thread list this is going to be a lot of work. I just wanted to take a moment and say that I do appreciate it. Hopefully with the help of the SG community it will make it a bit easier to find these. I also want to say that this thread will also help us out in SG support in catching some of these crazy priced games that might fly under our radar. Thank you AmanoTC and anyone else who contributes to this thread.
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I did want to take a moment to mention that often times you'll find these types of games in a big junk bundle. There plenty of times where the games in them with have the multiple devs listings, but on occasion they've been proven to be the same person with multiple accounts.
An example is the GamesForGames Bundle.
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/24309/GamesForGames_Bundle/
DEVELOPER: Defender Defender, Helicopter games, Cristian Manolachi, Atomic Fabrik, Succubella Games, vuzimu, OPG EUPHORE, Scale Studio, Gamesforgames, Andreev Worlds, Maks Volegov
PUBLISHER: Defender Defender, Helicopter games, Cristian Manolachi, Atomic Fabrik, Succubella Games, OPG EUPHORE, Scale Studio, Gamesforgames, Andreev Worlds, Maks Volegov
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https://store.steampowered.com/app/1290850/Kingdom_of_Corrupts/
^ many stolen content + free on android + profile features limited
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Audio samples, lvl design and art (most obvious is minecraft "TNT")
EDIT: Is more Shovelware than asset flip (just lack creativity)
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The reason I asked is because sometimes assets are available for free or the creator gives permission and people don't take that into account and just call them stolen. The minecraft asset is definitely enough to say the game has something stolen in it, so thank you for the information.
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I think that a useful addition to this thread would be to have one post that lists the connections between these devs (identifiable by their social info / support email).
For example:
kovalevviktor = KoloradoNS = RoboTeh Lab = Virturian
galesoozka = Gales Corp = Leonsy
Gamesforgames = Andreev Worlds = Defender Defender = Helicopter games = Scale Studio = OPG EUPHORE
and so on.
These are the ones extracted from my old post, but I can try to provide a more detailed list of equivalent names if needed.
This would make it easier to identify new items to add to the existing list, based on the dev / publisher name.
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If applicable, I add the info in the FOMO section but that would not list all of them.
So I very much appreciate your input. Since you have those things figured out way better than me, I propose you create one such posting here and I will link to it from the OP.
Will that work for you?
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Uhhh since I already have so many things to manage and so many comments that I have to go through every day, I really really don't want to add even more things to the pile. I'll leave the comment at that and perhaps come back from time to time to update it.
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Sadly, no.
He hammers out DLCs like a virus but they aren't overpriced. The ridicolous price for any bundles he does is by the sheer amount of DLCs included within those bundles.
If you could provide evidence that their games are asset flips, I will gladly add those to the list
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Thread is up to date and ready for takeoff.
Furthermore, I'd like to have your input to the following questions:
Thank you!
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Great work. I'm usually against gate-keeping and witch hunting, but at the same time I am for customer protection and being informed, and SotS curator/group does that, so it's one of the rare valuable curators to follow (in order not to feed the steam trolls...with literal money...)
TBH I didn't even consider some of these "bad players" affecting systems outside of steam until you started these threads and I realized the issue is much larger than just "here's a game-like-object, buy it or not". Then again, how to get this info in front of the users, and do it in an informative but unbiased way (just people tend to overdo sometimes... as we know from history...). Right now it's on this forum alone, and SotS already have a curator to follow, but maybe at some point there should be a dedicated website... But then if there is, these threads might get abandoned and... It's complicated, as always.
I like that you're warning against marking games that use assets as asset-flips, which are something else (base assets renamed without a game there), and against witch hunts against games someone simply regards as "bad", or "unworthy of steam".
I'd say abandoned EA games should be tracked too, but then it's a dilemma what is actually abandoned and what might be some "life situation" where dev is coming back. Maybe 1 years of inactivity is a warning, 2+ years is "abandoned"? I dunno.
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Thank you very much for your input.
Indeed, customer protection was my intent. Although, of course, these lists can be misused. As a shopping list, for example, because every mention is a form of advertising or at least raising awareness. It's a slippery slope.
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RE: Used as a shopping list
I used to buy a lot of bundles with shovelware, mostly to level up my Steam game count badge. I was happy to pay less than US$5 for those bundles. (I suffer from OCD issues.)
Then Steam instituted the "learning" and "profile features limited" flags and ruined those plans. Now I buy only games with neither of those flags (or enter SG giveaways with neither).
The point is, I really don't think anybody's going to use your lists as a shopping list. Unless they're real idiots, and I know there are some out there. I follow the SotS curator and belong to the group - I wish you success in your endeavor.
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I think it is reasonable to warn people about all of the games of studios that clearly have some funding but still choose to abandon their early access titles in bad shape. Like Double Fine with Spacebase DF-9. Those guys should not deserve any more money until they fix and deliver what they have sold.
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Spacebase DF-9 is exactly the game I was thinking about while reading Amano's comment. Garbage people, honestly. Abruptly abandoning an Early Access game halfway and putting out the announcement "well, we consider it to be finished so yeah"
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Fake reviews. Fake reviews are a more easily identifiable transgression.
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This overpriced asset flip just popped up in my discovery queue https://store.steampowered.com/app/1942140/Eastern_Europe_Truck_Simulator/
The Dev seems to pump out mostly asset flips and trash tier games as well.
Also, found this great curator, might be worth taking a look and filling up the list with some of the devs the point out: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41754370/
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The curator I linked provides the proof ;)
https://steamcommunity.com/id/mindphluxnet/recommended/1942140?snr=1_5_9__402
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Sid Alpha made a really good 9 minute video last year explaining what an asset flip is and what it's not. He also explains some of the reasons that it's done. He also talks about the infamous Asset Flippers Berdyev, Digital Homicide, and Silicon Echo. So if anyone who comes to this thread and wants a better understanding of things concerning asset flips it probably is worth the watch.
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Digital Homicide committed "digital suicide" by suing steam and random users
is this the case of a scummy dev? cause there are a few devs (maybe more than i know of) that ban players from steam discussions when they share negative feedback
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https://steamdb.info/app/1563960/
https://steamdb.info/app/1103060/ (possible future abuser, the price is ridiculous)
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overpriced:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2118320/steal/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/879110/Dragons_Checkers/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/986760/Paradise_Checkers_VR/
I think selling a cheap mobile game for $20 on pc and constantly discounting it by 90% as soon as a few months after release qualifies as well (and simply selling the same thing for 5x the price as on mobile regardless of discounts is scummy too), but if the devs weren't shady fucks, some of those games would actually be good. and there's other scummy behavior not covered in this thread, like banning people for valid criticism and feedback, or a negative review highlighting issues with the game, deleting feedback so potential customers don't see issues if they look at the forum (without using said feedback to fix their shitty game, of course).
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What about listing scummy devs that revoke bought keys from bundles ?
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Ridiculous price hikes for shovelware and possible asset flips.. $25, $30, and $35
Caged Beast
https://steamdb.info/app/2067170/
U96
https://steamdb.info/app/2064110/
Cows&Co
https://steamdb.info/app/2064120/
Deep Cave
https://steamdb.info/app/1844190/
Snake Game
https://steamdb.info/app/1894760/
Frog Lands
https://steamdb.info/app/1995080/
Size It
https://steamdb.info/app/1859610/
Here's all the listings for Galesoozka
https://store.steampowered.com/search/?sort_by=_ASC&developer=galesoozka
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ATTENTION: I need the help of the community to keep this thread alive and up to date!
This thread is trying to combine the information of several threads into one clear list, namely Asset Flips, FOMO and Overpriced Games.
If you have additional information, please post it here and I will add it to the corresponding paragraph. Please note that due to the many games I own I am not able to see all the information on all the corresponding websites, so I NEED your help to gather all neccessary information.
Thank you!
If you either need help where to start or want to help doing something about it, the Steam group Sentinels of the Store is a very good way to do so. You also should report every scammy and scummy game developer/publisher and every single one of their games to Valve.
Explanation of what should be reported
Asset Flips:
For many game engines developers can use so called "assets" for creating a game. Those are pre-assembled environments within the game engine, build by other developers who often make a living or some serious side income by creating those.
Example: Asset developer A creates a 3D mountain environment in the game engine Unity. Game developer B wants to develop a 3D game which happens in a mountain setting. Instead of creating a 3D mountain environment himself, game developer B buys the pre-assembled environment from asset developer A in the Unity asset store to save development time and thus money. Game developer B then uses the 3D mountain environment from asset developer A to create a game.
A so called "Asset Flip" means that a scammer buys an asset in a store and instead of developing a real game with it, he sells the asset as a finished game on Steam. For example, the above mentioned and linked 3D mountain environment could be sold on Steam as a "Walking Simulator" titled "Dangerous Mountains".
So he "flips" the asset into a game without adding anything to it or just barely modifying it.
Yes, the scammy game developer has to pay for the asset and also has to pay his standard fee to Valve, but if he sells enough copies of his "game" he makes profit.
List of Asset Flips
Developers/Publishers using FOMO:
FOMO stands for "Fear Of Missing Out" and with regards of what is listed within this thread corresponds to artificial deals.
As we all know, we are always on the hunt for the best deal on a game. The higher the discount the more likely it is for us to buy the game. We HAVE to buy it at 90% off because it will never be this cheap again. Right?
Well, since 2020, a lot of scummy developers and publishers use this thinking to trick customers into buying their games, which in many cases also are asset flips. They deliberately set the base price of their games way too high, something like 9,99 or 19,99 for a shitty looking game drawn in paint with a playtime of 10 minutes. Since nobody in their right mind would buy the game at that price, they create a permanent discount of at least 75% off. Now, when users browse the deals section at Steam or any price aggregating websites, they will always see those "games" with a high discount, think that it is a deal they can't pass on (because FOMO, see above) and buy the game.
With this, the scummy devs make a profit, because most users wouldn't have bought their games even at a base price of 0,39.
List of Developers/Publishers using FOMO
Overpriced games:
Those are games whose base price is deliberately set way too high but are not discounted. Those games can be asset flips, but don't have to. But they all are not really games, most are a piece of junk nobody would be buying at full price.
The reasoning for this is not 100% clear but the following two scenarios seem to be likely: money laundering or gaining CV here at Steamgifts.
Yes, a possibility the community agreed upon is that those "games" are created for the sole purpose to be given away here at SG to farm massive amounts of CV, thus getting to higher levels and supposedly better giveaways fast.
Another possibility the community agreed upon is that those "games" are created for money laundering. Which is a criminal activity, so I won't touch this topic any further.
List of deliberately overpriced games
What should NOT be reported
Shovelware. Because someones garbage might be a real treasure for another person.
Let's not try and list every shovelware game available, but rather concentrate on scammy and scummy practices. Thanks! :)
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