Tag: fraud

MMO Rant: Blade of Queen Is A Lie Built On Fraud


I have to assume that there is a template for Facebook games on the same level as those stock Unity games that get released on Steam by the dozens. These games populate Facebook, they advertise using fraudulent means, and they disappear as fast as they showed up. Their developers/publishers are all based in Hong Kong, most of them have no physical address, and I can only assume that they’re being pumped out with something resembling sweatshop labor given their speed, frequency, and obviously mass-produced quality.

Blade of Queen, one of two “games” spawned by budding shovelware developer/publisher CarolGames is an embarrassment, its publisher is so embarrassed by what it has to convince people to play that instead of using Queen of Blade screenshots in its Facebook advertising, they went ahead and used a snapshot from Suikoden 2.

Blade of Queen is a game in the sense that there are graphics and animations of figures fighting on screen. It’s not a game in the sense that you have no control over your characters and the only influence you have is spending silver to boost your stats so that they can automatically fight and win their match by simple virtue that your combat rating is higher than their combat rating. The combat is punctuated by poorly translated Engrish dialogue, about some nonsense that most people won’t care about enough to try and read.

I can’t remember the last time I lost a battle in the story mode, nor can I remember the last match that did not end with a SSS rating. Giving ratings at the end of each combat match is pointless because the player didn’t do anything. There is no strategy, nothing to congratulate. There’s a game that Nexon published whose name escapes me, but it supplements the fact that the combat plays out automatically by giving the player varying types of troops, forcing you to plan out a strategy with your characters.

As if to further the idea that this game is a hastily compiled mess, combat sounds work about 5% of the time.

I’m rank 69 and I haven’t even fought a battle. Nobody is playing this. What am I doing with my life? You know, that rank 1 player looks oddly familiar. Where have I seen that name before?

I’ve found the game’s major financier, folks.

Here’s the thing about these games: They’re cobbled together in Hong Kong sweatshops for sweatshop budgets, get translated to English for about a dollar, and ultimately nobody ends up playing them because they see the game in the Facebook ad and have either been conditioned to immediately recognize the scam, or they click on the link and immediately see that the game looks nothing like what was advertised.

Sure, you’ll get maybe a half dozen, dozen players who spend more than the game deserves, but ultimately it’ll be shut down within a few months and nobody will notice because by that point it will have been replaced by several dozen more clones, all of which will similarly shut down several months later.

On the other hand, the game has boobs and booty for miles, it doesn’t take a genius to know that someone said “let’s throw some jigglin tiddies in here, that’ll make people overlook the rest of the game being worthless.”

Other than that, I have no opinion on the matter.

[Steam Direct] Valve Isn’t Doing Basic Checks On Marketplace Items For Scams


Actions speak louder than words, and for Valve and Steam nothing furthers the allegations that the company doesn’t put much stock in the quality of its services than the repeated instances of outright fraud that have occurred on the Steam platform over the past few years. We’ve seen meme games, troll games, asset flips, abusive developers, Greenlight vote fraud, a developer taking critics to court, and of course the repeated return of Ata Berdiyev who Valve repeatedly ignore until whatever latest game he is involved with starts bringing embarrassing attention to the Steam store.

Our latest controversy comes to us in the form of scam artist indie developers and Steam items. Valve has opened up the floodgates allowing developers to give their games inventories with tradeable items on the Steam market and, as usual, they have put absolutely zero effort into quality control and as a result, some shady developers have come out of the woodwork to start exploiting the unchecked system. Reports are popping up from numerous communities of developers uploading items that are visually identical to items in Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, and Team Fortress 2, in order to con unsuspecting players into making trades.

This type of scam is different than what we’ve seen in the past, although it has been spotted before, because it directly implicates that game developers themselves are knowingly taking part and likely even perpetuating the scams. In addition, it shows that Valve is doing next to nothing in regards to checking against its sellers shenanigans. Are they vetting logos? No. Are they vetting tradeable items? No.

In the case of Abstractism, that includes tradeable items like the Team Fortress 2 rocket launcher knockoff shown above, the game has shown that Valve isn’t even properly vetting their games for viruses or other malicious programming. Abstractism has numerous negative reviews noting that the game is being flagged by several anti-virus programs as containing a trojan horse virus, uses a shady looking steam services executable that may or may not be authentic, and thanks to the work of several sleuths on the net, has more or less been shown to be a cryptocurrency mining operation.

Both games we’ve shown in this article, Abstractism and Climber, have been removed from Steam and their developers presumably banned from selling further titles. It does show, however, that Valve’s commitment to dealing with troll or illegal games is hollow, if not mostly fabricated.

Crowdfunding Fraudsters Update: Indiegogo Sends RCL To Collections


Let’s get one thing straight: The Spectrum Vega Plus does not exist and Retro Computers Ltd. has lied every step of the way. On to the story.

It seems as though the long saga of Retro Computers Ltd. is finally reaching its tired, stretched far too long, conclusion. This month, RCL was given a simple set of instructions by Indiegogo following numerous, increasingly ridiculous excuses for delays and minimal contact with their base of backers: In return for an extension to June 15, Indiegogo wanted contact information for Sky representatives, that RCL needed to refund any backer who asked for a refund, and provide RCL with a review console.

These demands should theoretically be easy, especially the review console since as we all know, RCL allegedly had the whole stock set to ship between March 8 and 12 until the Cobra Commander of retro games, also known as former directors Paul Andrews and Chris Smith, dastardly reached out and encouraged developers to pull licenses over unpaid licensing that RCL claims it totally paid.

Keeping with tradition, Retro Computers Ltd treated deadlines like guidelines and completely ignored them, and now Indiegogo is sending in the A-Team. According to an update sent out to backers just tonight, Indiegogo announced that it is working with a collections agency to recoup funds in an effort to refund backers. They note that the effort will take considerable time, and that the campaign is still open to the Vega+ team should they decide to update us on their big shipment of Vega Plus units that may or may not exist.

All demands by backers to see photographic evidence of the release-version Vega Plus have been ignored by Retro Computers Ltd.

Dear Vega+ Backers,

As you are aware, we recently provided the Vega+ team a provisional extension (June 15th) to fulfill, based on some requirements from us. These included sending us contact information of Sky representatives, and refunding backers immediately upon request, as well as providing Indiegogo with a review console.

Unfortunately, these asks have not been met and we are unable to further provide the Vega+ team an extension. This has been a challenging situation for all involved, and one we thought would be resolved with the backers receiving their game consoles.

This week, we will be working with a collections agency to attempt to recoup funds disbursed, in an effort to be able to refund backers. Please note that, while we are pursuing collections, this process can take considerable time and the Vega+ team still has the opportunity to fulfill on their obligation of shipping the consoles to backers. We refer you to the Vega+ team for any updates on shipping. The campaign is still open to the Vega+ team, and they continue to have the ability to update you all via our platform.

We hope that the Vega+ team follows through on their promise, and that any remedial efforts on our part will be rendered obsolete.

Thank you for your understanding, and patience.

Trust & Safety, Indiegogo

(Source; Indiegogo)

Valve Terminates Insel Games (Wild Buster) Over Fraudulent Reviews


Valve today announced the immediate termination of its dealings with Insel Games. According to the news post, Valve employees discovered that Insel was using accounts to post fake positive reviews for their titles.

It has been recently reported on Reddit that the publisher for this game, Insel Games Ltd., have been attempting to manipulate the user review score for their titles on Steam. We have investigated these claims, and have identified unacceptable behavior involving multiple Steam accounts controlled by the publisher of this game. The publisher appears to have used multiple Steam accounts to post positive reviews for their own games. This is a clear violation of our review policy and something we take very seriously.

For these reasons, we are ending our business relationship with Insel Games Ltd. and removing their games from our store. If you have previously purchased this game, it will remain accessible in your Steam library.

This affects all of Insel’s titles on Steam, including Wild Buster and Guardians of Ember, as well as The Onion Knights: Definitive Edition. The controversy sparked after an email emerged on Reddit allegedly from the CEO of Insel Games showing the company pressuring its employees to buy the game and leave fake positive reviews.

(Source: Steam)

[NM] Youtuber DalasReview Pulls Fur Fun From Steam After Game Flops


Youtuber Dalasreview has fully pulled his title Fur Fun from Steam barely ten months after a controversial release and virtually no response from the Steam market. Fur Fun began as a game attempting to obtain crowdfunding to produce a Banjo-Kazooie style game. When those crowdfunding attempts failed, popular Spanish Youtuber Dalasreview backed the game and helped publish it, presumably also helping fund its development.

When the game launched into early access last February, it immediately struck a negative response. People quickly discovered that stolen assets from Banjo Kazooie, Minecraft, and Mario were present in the game’s files, a public spat over whether or not Yooka-Laylee composer Grant Kirkhope had created music for the game resulted in the Fur Fun account publicly accusing him of lying on Twitter, and Dalasreview began filing frivolous DMCA takedown notices against Youtube videos critical of the game and its developer.

In all of this controversy, it looks like the only thing that people weren’t doing was actually buying or playing the game. A quick glance at the Steam charts shows that Fur Fun never once after launch managed to beat a monthly average of one user. Steam Spy indicates that the game had maybe around 717 owners as of December 31, which doesn’t account for copies that may have been given away for free. Despite Dalasreview’s 4+ million subscriber count, it looks like far more people were interested in talking about the controversy of Fur Fun than were actually willing to buy it.

The Steam announcement sounds very similar to other jilted indie devs, even ending with a “good riddance” farewell.

This is our last goodbye!
It’s been a long time trying to keep up the project alive, but it’s time to say goodbye.

Fur Fun is getting out of Steam.
Thanks to all of you for your support and kind comments.
Good riddance.

(Source: Steam)

Banned Steam Seller Is Back, Threatening Steam Users


Gennady Guryanov Alekseevich shouldn’t be selling games on Steam, he was banished from the service in April when Valve discovered that he was using Steam accounts to boost the reviews of his games. In fact, his entire library of games was destroyed: Zi, Julai, and K-Rolik.

Secret Doctrine is a game developed by Luma14Kulan, the alias of Gennady Guryanov Alekseevich and which is currently available on Steam at the high price of $50, despite the aforementioned individual being barred from selling products on it.

Through tough research, MMO Fallout was able to verify that not only is Gennady Guryanov the developer of The Secret Doctrine, but that he is in fact currently going by the username Lama14Kulan. How did we discover this information, you may ask? Via the not-so-subtle about page on the game’s own website.

And since Lama14Kulan is shady enough to get himself banned for underhanded practices, it may not be surprising to see that users are being threatened with lawsuits over their criticism of Guryanov’s business tactics.

For what it’s worth, as with most games of this stripe, while Guryanov may be back on Steam, it hasn’t stopped his game from flopping hard. As of this writing, there is one review of the game (Russian) by a user who is (unsurprisingly) friends with Guryanov. There isn’t a single person playing at this time and sales are expected to be miniscule as publisher Elena Schukina (seen above threatening to sue a user) is trying to play up the controversy as “black PR” to drive more sales.

Given that Guryanov is located in Russia and his game has sold virtually nothing, the threat of lawsuit falls on deaf ears. Members of the community should not allow empty threats from a shady creator stop them from exposing and criticizing problematic players in the Steam economy.

(Source: Guardians of Greenlight)

Greenlight Fraudsters: MechDefender Scams Greenlight Bundle


MechDefender is a recently released game by developer Elite Games Ltd, Vadim Starygin, and one that currently has zero concurrent players, a factor that probably won’t change much so long as Elite Games refuses to give keys to the customers who purchased them. You see, MechDefender was partnered with the OtakuMaker Greenlight Bundle, a Steam bundle where players are given the ability to buy games before they are greenlit on Steam at a major discount in return for a key once the game is approved and on the store (this is not a Valve-sanctioned bundle).

Except that while MechDefender was successfully Greenlit, the developer has no intention of actually giving players keys. Why? Despite no doubt knowing how much money he’d be making from each sale, the developer decided after already taking part that it just wasn’t enough.

So I`m about to close this topic. I`ll give out a few keys to play&test in next topic after patch.
Here is bottom line of this disccusion:
1) At this moment I do not have money from “this bundle”.
2) If you wanna get your four cents back – ask for refund at place where you “spend” your cents.

So the developer sold copies of his game cheap in order to get it approved through Steam Greenlight, and then reneged and has decided that the price is too cheap and the buyers won’t be getting their copies. Normally MMO Fallout takes a position of presuming incompetence over malice, but this practice is an outright scam, one that were it to be pursued in a western court would most definitely result in Elite Games on the losing end.

But Elite Games will happily provide a refund, which it has valued at 4 cents.

And, no, I didnt get any ‘real money’. I would love to give it back. It is around 4 cents per copy. At this point we trying to work out a solution. Any suggestion is welcome.

The developer goes on in the linked thread to begin awkwardly going through the play histories of people criticizing his business decision, questioning their play styles and making conclusions to not give them keys based off of perceived motivations which, as far as consumer law goes, is none of his business.

Alright, alright, he’ll send out the keys. But only to people who have been nice…

Since MechDefender is moving towards release candidate.
Lets try first round of keys? To nice ppl – who wasnt calling me names or put in his??????list.

But you people aren’t real customers in his eyes…

“Just wanna add – you are not my customer. I dont consider you a customer – even if you spend four cents and demanding a gift a 5$ value…”

“…I meant not you personaly – but all users who want copy for four cents. They are not customers – including or excluding you – depens on your deeds. I did lost count and stuff.”

And don’t think you scumbag customers thinking you’re entitled to a product just because it was sold to you are going to get this deal again in the future, because you won’t.

And for other games – I can only do this with MechDefender. You have to meet me at half-way.
If you dont like this plan, and insist on more games for four cents – that will not happen. Ask for refund.

A quick glance at the forums shows a familiar field of banned accounts that has become so common with developers engaged in shady practices. While Elite Games has sworn off of Otaku bundles going forward, perhaps it is best for consumers to keep in mind exactly how Starygin feels about his customers, or whatever he calls them because they aren’t customers in his eyes.

Elite Games was founded by Russian developer Vadim Starygin and his wife Tatiana Budarina. The company operates out of Kaliningrad and has been releasing titles for nearly ten years.

Gearbox Follows Through: Cancels Deal With G2A


Following yesterday’s delcaration of demands against G2A, Gearbox Software have announced that they are cancelling their partnership with the key reseller. The two parties were partnered for the launch of Bulletstorm: Full Clip edition on Steam, going as far as having a G2A exclusive collector’s edition. After being presented with evidence that G2A was profiting off of resold games purchased with stolen credit cards, Gearbox unveiled a list of demands for G2A to prove that they were committed to combating the use of its service for fraudulent purposes, and since then it appears that the company has not responded.

Gearbox’s own Steve Gibson, head of publishing, gave the following statement:

“As there has been no public movement from G2A by the time Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition launched now on PC, Gearbox Publishing will be doing their part to not directly support a marketplace that did not make the new public commitment to protecting customers and developers requested by Gearbox Publishing.”

The last couple of days have seen people asking the same question, how did Gearbox get into a deal with a company that they clearly knew little about? According to Randy Pitchford, the deal with G2A had begun with People Can Fly. Pitchford himself had only become aware of the deal yesterday (April 6).

(Source: Vice)

Steam Cleanlight: Valve Terminates More Developers Over Review Manipulation


Valve has claimed three more souls as Steam parts ways with developers over review manipulation. The games in question include Techwars Online 2, Concerning Evergrow, and Trigger Happy Shooting. As posted by a Valve Steamworks moderator, the developers were using fake reviews to make their games appear to be more popular and well received than they actually were, leading to their ability to sell on the Steam platform to be revoked.

None of the games will appear on Steam and their developers will be unable to publish other games going forward.

We (Valve) have identified unacceptable behavior involving multiple Steam accounts controlled by the developer of this game. The developer appears to have used multiple Steam accounts to post positive reviews for their own game. This is a clear violation of our review policy and something we take very seriously.

For these reasons, we are ending our business relationship with Mikhail Pasik and removing this game from sale. If you have previously purchased this game, it will remain accessible in your Steam library.

(Source: Reddit)

Indie Developer Karabas Studio Lies About Awards


Another day, another indie developer accused of engaging in some shady practices. Today the topic is Karabas Studio, developer of the upcoming The Sorceress on Steam, or currently existing Fabulous Journey on Itch.io.

Looking at the game’s screenshots, it seems to be a pretty run of the mill Unity engine RPG, nothing spectacular or particularly special about it. You may notice, hovering over the game’s store page, that this title is the recipient of several awards. A lot of awards, like a whole show of awards. Best atmosphere, best graphics, best action, and the Indie World Award, all from one year. Last year, even, plus a Dev Gamm award with ‘Moscow 2017’ written on it. Pretty impressive considering The Sorceress wouldn’t have been groundbreaking or noteworthy on any of those fronts even ten years ago, but maybe the competition at the Indie World Awards was just really that poor last year?

As it turns out, no, but that’s not the point. A skeptical mind might head on over to Indie World 2016 website to check the awards and find that The Sorceress didn’t win. Anything. At all. Possibly because Karabas wasn’t even in the list of participants. The whole list of awards is fake. Just to make sure there wasn’t some crazy mixup with the translation, I tracked down each game via the website’s list of participants. You can even head on over to Russian Facebook, also known as VK, to see the awards being handed out in action.

But don’t take my word for it, check out the real winners of the awards:

As for Dev Gamm 2017, I’ll assume that the logo is just noting that the game will have some kind of presence, as Dev Gamm 2017 in Moscow hasn’t happened yet and thus no awards have been handed out. Certainly we haven’t hit a point where a developer would stoop so low as to claim awards from shows that haven’t happened yet. The next step may come as a surprise to those of you who have seen how shady indie developers operate, but upon questioning the award listing I was promptly banned by the game’s developer.

Incredibly, the award listing has seemingly been pulled down since my ban. Through the power of internet archiving, however, you can see the page here with its awards on full display. The Sorceress releases February 1st.