Helldivers 2 and Palworld teams call out "sad and frustrating" Steam copycats after fakes hit Valve's storefront overnight
Mar. 1, 2024Escape From Tarkov, Last Epoch, and other popular games have also been targeted
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Arrowhead Studios, the developer behind co-op hit Helldivers 2, has warned players about “fake” versions of the game and other popular titles after a wave of illegitimate copies hit Steam overnight.
“There are, unfortunately, two (three now?!) fake games being marketed as Helldivers 2 on Steam at the moment,” the studio explains in a recent Discord message. “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 hopeValvewill remove the products as soon as possible.”
Arrowhead’s legal team seems to have worked its magic quickly because at least two of these fake versions have been delisted from the digital storefront, according to Steam Database. How did such an obvious forgery get through Steam’s checkpoints? Indie gamesFigularityandDo Not Smileboth changed their names to Helldivers 2, replaced screenshots with Helldivers captures, and then listed the developer and publisher as Arrowhead Game Studios and PlayStation LLC respectively. (Good spot,VG247.)
OneReddit posthighlights that copycats targeted other popular games, too, including survival hit Palworld, action hack-and-slasher Last Epoch, and extraction shooter Escape From Tarkov. Palworld’s community managercalledthe overnight trend “quite concerning,” but clarified that Steam removed the false copy “immediately after we contacted them.”
Helldivers 2 players reckon they’ve found playable mechs and AI reinforcements in the game’s files.
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Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that’s vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he’ll soon forget.
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