Several fake Helldivers 2 scam listings appear on Steam in the dead of night, prompting Arrowhead to call in 500kg bomb-sized takedowns
Scammers tried to make a quick buck, but Helldivers 2’s real devs weren’t having any of it.
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Though it doesn’t happen often, it’s not unheard of for nefarious actors to publish scam games on the Steam store or trick players into buying existing ones by renaming them to match a far more popular title. A case of the latter fraud occurred in the dead of night on Thursday evening, as the pages of two Steam games were edited to make them appear as if they were discounted listings forHelldivers 2.
Arrowhead Game Studios' new third-person PvE co-op shooter has been at the peak ofSteam’s Top Sellers chartfor weeks, and evidently, someone wanted to take advantage of that popularity to try and make a quick buck. Fortunately, Arrowhead quickly realized what was going on, and was able to work with Steam developer Valve to get the fake listings removed. About an hour after these scam pages were spotted, they got taken down like Bile Titans caught in the blast of a 500kg bomb stratagem. Good riddance.
“All fake store pages now seem to have been taken down by Valve, who acted very swiftly after we reached out,“wroteArrowhead’s community manager Thomas “Twinbeard” Petersson in an update on theofficial Helldivers 2 Discord. “We´ll assess everything in due time. Also, a big THANK YOU to everyone who DMed or pinged me/us about the fake pages and games. Together we stand.”
Earlier in the evening, Petersson said that “our legal department is on it,” so I’m sure action will be taken against the culprits in due time. Above all else, I’m just glad that Arrowhead and Valve were able to get this taken care of immediately, as the scammers were clearly waiting until late hours to try and pull off their scheme.
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Petersson also noted that you can tell which Helldivers 2 listings are real (here’s the correct Steam page) by checking for the correct launch date: February 8, 2024. Additionally, make sure it’s either simply Helldivers 2 or the Helldivers 2: Super Citizen Edition. “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 weurgeyou to stay clear of them,” he continued. “Again, the only two Helldivers 2 products we market are Helldivers 2 and Helldivers 2 Super Citizen Edition.”
I did a little digging in the SteamDB database as I was writing this, and discovered that one of the fake Helldivers 2 listings was originally for a game developed by “SoleOnBoard Studio” calledFiguralityin which you were tasked with “controlling the mouse cursor” and guiding it “to the correct figure” (riveting). The other wasDO NOT SMILE, a game from “Whitehole Games” described as “a 2D platformer with puzzle elements.”
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Steam users have had the latter group flagged as predatory for months, and there’s no doubt in my mind that both “developers” are just the same band of scammers. It should go without saying, but if you see any games with these names attached to it,do not buy them.
In other, more positive Helldivers 2 news, hundreds of thousands of players arecurrently fighting to liberate the planet of Veldfrom a bug infestation before it spreads out of control Monday morning. Oh, and we recently learned that the game’s got a special Game Master named Joel who’s orchestrating the Galactic War, thoughhis power has limits.
Helldivers 2 is available now for $39.99 on both PS5 and PC, and so far, it’s one of thebest PC gamesof the year. Notably, the game also supports cross-platform play between PS5 and PC.
Helldivers 2 —$39.99 at GMG (Steam)Battle aliens, robots, and other beasts in humanity’s quest to spread democracy through an unforgiving galaxy. It’s 4-player co-op at its absolute best, and its most refined.
Also at:Amazon (PS5, Physical)|Walmart (PS5, Physical)
Super Citizen Edition:Amazon (PC, Digital)|GMG (Steam, PC, Digital)
Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he’s been an avid fan since childhood. He’s been writing for Team WC since the summer of 2017, and you’ll find him doing news, editorials, reviews, and general coverage on everything gaming, Xbox, and Windows PC. His favorite game of all time is probably NieR: Automata, though Elden Ring, Fallout: New Vegas, and Team Fortress 2 are in the running, too. When he’s not writing or gaming, there’s a good chance he’s either watching an interesting new movie or TV show or actually going outside for once.Follow him on X(Twitter).
