Steam game 'Abstractism' was pulled from the marketplace after users complained that it was hijacking their computers to mine cryptocurrency, and that the game developers were scamming players with in-game assets.
On Monday Valve pulled an indie game from its digital games marketplace, Steam, that was allegedly a front for a cryptocurrency mining operation. The game, called
Abstracticism, allegedly hijacked players’ computers and used them to mine cryptocurrency.
The scam is known as “cryptojacking”; when
hackers force a victim’s computer to dedicate resources to guessing the correct value that validates a block of cryptocurrency transaction data. This process is extremely resource-intensive and can lead to overheating and slowdowns. Cryptocurrency mining can be lucrative as miners are rewarded with digital coins, which scammers receive without having to buy their own computers to do the mining with.
Players allege that the developers also used the game to generate counterfeit digital items it used to scam unsuspecting customers.
Developer Okalo Union and publisher dead.team released
Abstractism on Steam on March 15. In the simple platformer, players move blocks around a 2D space while soothing music plays. “[It’s] an absolutely trivial platformer, but the only really special feature—there is ‘Game over!’ But instead, there is an ASMR soundtrack, a stylish minimalistic design and a relaxing atmosphere inside!” says the poorly-worded official description. There were some immediate red flags: for one, the developers incentivized players to leave the game running even when not in use with the promise of rare items.
