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! :)

1 year ago*

Comment has been collapsed.

Expansive Worlds raised the price of The Angler shortly after release. Does that qualify? And overall the game feels like EA or even an early beta. Refunded it BTW.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1408610/Call_of_the_Wild_The_Angler/

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Space Route = 20,99€.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Added, thank you.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Thank you.

I don't know, I have the feeling this is a false positive or better said, a case of a developer who doesn't know what he is doing. I am leaning against malicious intent on that one.
The DLC is way too expensice, yes. But you not only get a character, you get the asset and with it a license to use it in your own mod or game. Still too expensive, but more reasonable.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

The game is also in Early Access but the last depots update according to SteamDB was in Dec 2020 so it is abandoned. The 3 reviews imply that it only contains half a level and that the last update led to virus warnings.

And that $29.99 DLC is currently in a DIG bundle for $0.25:

https://isthereanydeal.com/specials/#/filter:id/12055
https://www.dailyindiegame.com/site_weeklybundle_940.html

1 year ago*
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

The bundle this game is in https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/8249/Mega_Bundle/
It has a bunch of games that are way over priced in it

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Already added. Sorry for late answer, I had some busy days

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Added

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Thanks. Seems like a daunting task but you are doing a great job

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

https://store.steampowered.com/search/?sort_by=_ASC&force_infinite=1&snr=1_7_7_230_7&publisher=OnBlind&page=1

All are asset flips, including Eon Fleet that I see given away here sometimes. He at least reskinned that one, but doesn't change the fact of what it is.

1 year ago*
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Added them all to overpriced. To add them to Asset Flips I need some proof that they are, in fact, Asset Flips.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

This guy called Obey the Fist did the work for us.

"Lucky Panda"
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198030784015/recommended/739990/

"Forest Gaurdian" is listed in his example for a similar asset flip here:
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198030784015/recommended/1810810/

All of this devs games are asset flips. The day I posted the link above, I actually searched for and found the source material used for a couple of them before posting here and they were obvious. BUT, now I find this guy's reviews where he actually links the source material for ALL of them. Good man! lol.

Eon Fleet is an asset flip too, but he actually took the time to reskin it. Doesn't make it much better, but it's less obvious than the rest of his games.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Thank you, Shannon. I appreciate hooking me up with links to reviewers who provide proof for Asset Flips. It just takes me a while adding them all to the list ugh

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

You're welcome.

Fair play to you for compiling the list.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Vitok, dev/publisher a bit of FOMO/overpriced, possibly asset flips.

1 year ago*
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Added everything, thanks Gaffi

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

1 year ago*
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Added the missing stuff, some was already here

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1576550/Otaku_Club/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1646890/Hot_Summer/

Both 25p, same dev/publisher.


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1745790/City_Zoomer/
5p, i dont have words to describe it, take a look by yourself. Yes, this suffering must be shared.

1 year ago*
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Added Otaku Club, Hot Summer was already listed

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Well, to be honest, City Zoomer at least is not 40€ or 50€, so, it's something.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1459360/Brain_Break/

Doubled the price but is maybe a real game. I don't checked further or the other games from this dev.
I let you decide.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Can't see a real pattern here, so decided against it

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

The there's like 30+ craptastic games here by the "Dev" Kedexa. Most are around $20.
https://store.steampowered.com/search/?sort_by=_ASC&force_infinite=1&snr=1_7_7_230_7&developer=Kedexa&page=1

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Added to FOMO table. The single games that they no longer use FOMO for were added to the Overpriced table

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Deleted

This comment was deleted 1 year ago.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Added to Overpriced

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

How in the hell does he have over 15.6k followers across multiple social media platforms?

View attached image.
1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Giving copies away on freebie sites that demand to do tasks. Like follow on X, wishlist game X etc.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Yeah I kinda figured it might be gleam or something like that. He did have a few decent games, by the reviews that seemed legit before he went ham with craptastic asset flips.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

What I love are the "positive" reviews. I mean seriously, Steam review system is about as credible as IMDB's by now lol

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

He actually had a few games with a few hundred reviews that were positive. Not sure if they were asset flips though like most if not all the others and people didn't realize it. One day it seemed like he just said screw it and starting pushing out crap.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I guess it's tempting to go this way if easy crap seems to sell better than games you put time and effort in, for whatever reason.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

easy crap seems to sell better than games you put time and effort in

This. So sad.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Steam is the culprit there, really. If they kept a tighter leash on the content they put up, put a cap on the number of achievements for a game, get a grip on the whole card market thing and allowed reports for overpricing and asset flips... well, devs wouldn't have to compete with all the trashware to sell their actual games, right?

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Word.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

It give different discords that offer "postive ratings, wishlist, comments" etc. with up to 900 steam bot accounts.
All games that are fake trash have in general 10-20 positive reviews to be on a around 70 - 75% positive rating. [It cost them around 10€]
The result are that i don't give something on each rating with only 20 reviews, at least not if the trailer and pictures show a bad game.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Deleted

This comment was deleted 11 months ago.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Thank you!

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I just wanted to take a moment again to say thanks to everyone who is posting on here and of course to AmanoTC for running the thread.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

You're welcome!
Was a little bit behind due to... stuff... but try to catch up

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

You don't have to feel obligated or rushed or anything like that. Whatever "stuff" you are doing should be what comes first tbh and then do this during your spare time or whenever you want. Running a big thread this that needs to be updated constantly can take a lot of time, so if you ever feel like you need a break, please take it and not even for one second should you feel bad about it or that you a falling behind.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Another one from good old meme, I mean Hede. Throwing garbage and asset flips on Steam since 2017.

I'll put in a request to nuke all these piles of crap from him to 0 CV from the start if it hasn't already been done and anything else he launches.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

When will SG give us emoticons? Your post needs to be applauded! :)

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

👏

Copy & paste ;)

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Yeah, yeah... smart aleck! ;)

Not the same thing as this adds a new comment every time someone wants to do something like this as opposed to simply incrementing a counter. :)

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Oh, THAT'S what you meant. I think those are called reactions or likes/dislikes or similar and yes, you could include emoticons in those.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Oh my, he has a lot of garbage out there.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I'm pretty familiar this person for years. Here's the listings under Hede and HedeGames, but he also has dev and publisher accounts not under that name as well. I can't remember them, but I believe the Sentinels of the Store group has them.

https://store.steampowered.com/search/?sort_by=_ASC&publisher=Hede
https://store.steampowered.com/search/?publisher=Hede%20Games

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

It seems he earns more than he spend since he keeps doing this. Thanks for the links, I added every one of those to my ignored list.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Is Hede also Azerbaijan Technologies aka AzTech? Because some Asset Flips that once had Hede as Publisher now have Azerbaijan Tech as Publisher

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Yes, that's one of the names, but this particular one is more current. Hede actually has several others and some if I remember correctly didn't have a connection was easily traced. I'm going to look around to see if I can find the other names today as well as reach out to someone.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I sent a ticket to nuke this particular game about an hour ago, not sure if others have been reported.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

My rank(Junior Mod) can't view whatever ticket category you sent it to, so I never saw it. Thank you for submitting the ticket with the info, we appreciate it.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I asked about reporting games a couple of days ago, and was told it's best to send it under "add to game list".

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

My position doesn't have the ability to do that so it makes sense that I wouldn't be able to view it.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Thanks.
The most old stuff were reported from me in the past and mostly handled from Gaffi, Eefrit or Pete.
But i am sure the mods will find enough "new" stuff. Because extrem asset flips it is hard to use the word new for multiple times the same few games with only changed assets :-D

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

The title tells me many other "Climb Challenges" will follow... :(

Added. Oh, and it is also an Asset Flip

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

It appears to be. :(

I wish Valve had a system like GOG (maybe not that strict) before accepting new games to the store.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

This game might be another one:
https://www.steamgifts.com/archive/search?q=climb%20challenge

/edit: aww... should have refreshed the topic before finaly posting...beaten by 4 minutes :D
(Was not sure in which topic to post)

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Thank you, nevertheless :) You can always just bump this thread with any info, I will see it

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Seems like there hasn't anything happend with this game yet.
There is a new giveaway of this overprized game: https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/ZIuU5/climb-challenge-castle

And two other similar overprized games from the same guy:
https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/jLl6o/hidden-office-top-down-3d
https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/py3dn/hidden-cube-world-top-down-3d

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

try to create a new GA for Climb Challenge - Castle and it will show **
Edit: 2 others also show no value :)

1 year ago*
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

thank you for the info :)

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I made a ticket about them before checking this topic, and already got a reply from support that they are set to 0 CV since their first GAs.
All is good.
(Thanks Pete!)

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

thank you for the info :)

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

That giveaway list made me re-evaluate some things about some users, thanks

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I did that based on another list of games/giveaways a month or two ago. All 4 were repeat offenders in there too.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Easier to make a list of good games, than keep updating this with the daily 15-30+ candidates...

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Hidden Cube World Top-Down 3D
Also overpriced for me (37.99 eur)

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Since it is on sale for -90% off, it was added to the FOMO-table. Let's see if it will go back to full price

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Some of these people are giving Digital Homicide a good run for worse ever asset flip developer.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Dude, I don't know why you're doing this, Steam has a quality department and they do their work, probably you'd like to apply to them. Percentage of scam/fake games is huge and it will be even larger with modern neural techs, it's not work for a lone warrior, join a team.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Steam has a quality department and they do their work

you can't be serious. even if they had one they wouldn't do anything, it's the valve way.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

The department does exist two or more years and they delete fake games regularly.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

not regularly or thoroughly enough then.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

So many games on DIG are pretty much shovelware, all the hentai trash - even though they all use the same engine and a few new stolen pictures?

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Deleted

This comment was deleted 1 year ago.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Closed 1 year ago by AmanoTC.