Beware of the Helldivers 2 Sale Scam on Steam

Two indie games on Steam recently tried to scam players into thinking they were actually buying Helldivers 2. Since it launched on February 8, the third-person shooter developed by Arrowhead Game Studios has experienced unforeseen success, so much so that servers are frequently at max capacity and there are extremely long wait times to play. The problem became so extreme that Helldivers 2 players even stopped logging out to avoid having to wait in the queue again.

This resulted in Helldivers 2’s Steam rating temporarily dropping from “Very Positive” to “Mixed,” though it has since recovered. Arrowhead has already increased server capacity more than once to try to accommodate the steady influx of players, but the game’s extreme popularity has proven challenging for the indie developer.

Of course, some people have seen the success of Helldivers 2 as a way to take advantage of unwary consumers. Early on March 1, two indie games on Steam were disguised as Helldivers 2, with most external indicators successfully hiding their true identity. The game titles, metadata, descriptions, screenshots, and even developer and publisher information was changed to match Helldivers 2. The listings were removed fairly quickly by Steam, but probably not before Figurality by developer SoleOnBoard Studio and Do Not Smile by Whithole Games lured in a few people with their $12.49 and $19.99 price tags.

According to SteamDB, as shared by Twitter account Wario64, the two disguised games were both added to Steam on the same date, November 4, 2023, and their information was edited at around the same time on March 1. This strongly implies that the two games are owned by the same person.

If a similar situation arises in the future, one way to discern if the game is a fake is by looking at the breadcrumb menu above the game title on Steam. Helldivers 2 was published by PlayStation PC LLC, and so its menu trail at the top of the page should be: All Games > Action Games > PlayStation Studios Franchise >