Recent reports have revealed that 2 indie games on Steam are masquerading as HELLDIVERS 2 to trick players into buying them.
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Two Steam Indie Games Disguised as HELLDIVERS 2 to Scam Players
Recently, social media was abuzz with 2 duplicate copies of HELLDIVERS 2 appearing on Steam and being sold at a discounted price of US$12.49 and US$19.99.
According to SteamDB, both games, which have the names Figurality and Do Not Smile, are actually indie games that have been released since November 2023 with all metadata altered by their developers to mimic HELLDIVERS 2.
Based on data from SteamDB, both games were edited on March 1, 2024, at 09:52 WIB, with the game title, description, screenshots, and publisher and developer information changed to match the original HELLDIVERS 2.
Given that both games launched on November 4, 2024, there’s a good chance that they were published by the same person. At the time of publishing this article, both games have been removed by Valve.
Arrowhead Game Studios response
Arrowhead Game Studios CEO, Johan Pilestedt, has said on X about HELLDIVERS 2 duplicates circulating on Steam:
So, apparently there’s a HELLDIVERS 2 “fake store” with images stolen from the game and posing as us, with Arrowhead Game Studios labels and everything! How did this happen, Valve?
For everyone out there who wants to get this game on Steam: Check user reviews first to avoid getting scammed.
Johan Pilestedt, CEO of Arrowhead Game Studios
The community manager at Pocket Pair, Bucky, also revealed that Palworld had the same case as HELLDIVERS 2, but the duplicate games were removed immediately when they reported it to Steam.
“They’re not new apps they take apps from existing games and just swap the name and image with yours. In our case, both games are small Russian games,” Bucky wrote on X.
“However, while I’ve been told that this isn’t a new scam on Steam, I don’t think targeting Palworldand HELLDIVERS 2 on the same day is a good idea!”
Bucky added, “Hopefully with all the attention it’s getting now, Steam will plug this hole ASAP!”
A few hours later, Valve also immediately removed around 830 games and DLC that were potentially problematic and had links to the duplicate game issue.
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