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but we all know. it wont do anything.
i wrote a support ticket about that.
but we all know. it wont do anything.
As we saw from Atomic Fabrik and over 200 fake games being banned, Valve do take action but they must do so carefully. They can't allow "friendly fire", which is to say punishing the wrong developer just because they were adjacent to this activity.
We know from when Sentinels infiltrated Obzor that the reviewers are instructed to write genuine red herring reviews on genuine products to make it difficult to isolate the accounts. If Valve were to ban every game that "Moyano" or "Charmer" reviewed, it would hit a number of legitimate games, and that wouldn't be fair.
As for the asset flip nature of the game, it is what I refer to in my own reviews as a "Digital Homicide" style asset flip. Not a 1:1 copy + paste of a single asset pack, but a selection of store assets arranged randomly to make a minimum viable product for sale.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3184160/Spellchanted_2D_Hidden_Object_Puzzle_Adveture_TileMatching/
(I hope this is the right place to ask.)
Secondly, this is something new for us, in fact I had to go change some of my review auditing code because fake reviews usually aren't applied to "free" games.
What you have there is a (probably) asset flipped mobile app that's been shoved on Steam... not new, it happens a lot. SteamDB flagged that game as having an in-game cash shop (like a lot of mobile app cancer has).
You were right to be suspicious. The game carries a HUGE number of reviews from the Obzor/Mipped Russian fake review farm, and as we've been discussing, these fake reviews are now a direct violation of US FTC law and can carry a fine of up to $50,000 per infraction.
Looks like they've ramped up and started slapping fake reviews on their games now.
I've reviewed a number of their games as just pointless mobile cash grabs, but the addition of fake Russian reviews makes things worse.
I don't mind mobile ports, and am immune to "gimme moneyz Sale$$$" thrown in my face every other click. I like those ftp games now and then. Preferably on computer rather than getting neck-ache on my tablet.
But I am used to reviews complaining about "cheap mobile port with too many in-game purchases", and that being missing here was highly suspicious. :)
Thanks Sasoesegreto! Some great findings.
We took a deeper look into the reviews and developers in question and in fact found out, as what some suspected, these are in fact the same individual, but they are also in fact a previously banned developer too.
We made it the subject of our most recent article which you can read about here!
Good findings! Enjoy the points as a thanks!
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Sentinels_of_the_Store/announcements/detail/4553794655131533944
Yep, that's their modus operandi. From that we should assume the review copies have been purchased and the fake reviews are either there or on the way.
Walpurguisnacht
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561199684125606/recommended/
Dizel
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561199684024789/recommended/
Proctor
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561199684061838/recommended/
heymaygan
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561199683504340/recommended/
I assume Devs ask or pay to have botted reviews? Or do they just go around reviewing every F2P title they can? Reading through replies like GraVes is a bit disheartening when a shady dev can so easily prop up their subpar product
There's definitely an organised and deliberate network of fake reviewers and review manipulators working to make scam products to fleece gamers for a few roubles.
Some of the guys in Sentinels did some amazing undercover work to shed light on the whole racket.
You can read about it all here:
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Sentinels_of_the_Store/announcements/detail/4222762959836264571
search at google "is it written by ai"
and paste the text of these reviews
and these i tested came back as 100% ai generated.
and 80 of all these "scam games" from these "scam developers" are positive?!