A new article is now available on Sentinels of the Store.

I've been informed by the ever-so-helpful member of our community, John, that they have made a report to the FTC regarding review manipulation on Steam. The FTC is now investigating the matter and has requested contact with Steam regarding the cases.

Read our article below for all the details we have as things stand.

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/groups/Sentinels_of_the_Store/announcements/detail/4487367832217059452

Originally posted by SasoesegretoITA:

Hi,
i checked the front page and found this game with a 100% review score:
https://steamhost.cn/app/3067030/Spaceport_Assault/?curator_clanid=32686107

Don't know if it is an asset flip (probably tbh) but the reviews are all the same and are 100% AI generated.
Every account has 20 games reviewed with the same play time for every game. Profiles are private

Accounts:

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683430217/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683124578/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683845533/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683200013/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683778994/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683370245/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683332596/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199682712802/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683359037/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683762819/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199684040398/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683582263/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683989772/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683202624/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199684078770/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199682864406/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683158018/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683950043/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683606724/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683726524/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683974144/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199682732927/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683023812/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683416127/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683461490/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683948103/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683339939/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683671306/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683685482/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199684182897/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683451159/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683493223/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683490793/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683332833/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683177304/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683827109/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683854289/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683127013/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199684070293/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199682339513/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199684308913/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683486090/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199684118725/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683819866/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199684071443/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199684607076/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199684053618/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199684391816/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683123996/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199682868759/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683964121/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683406275/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683511071/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683725785/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199684189959/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683556997/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199684012237/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683867285/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683600259/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683187440/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683782942/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199684225188/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199684127062/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199682907992/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683612394/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683437477/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683653867/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683460483/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683148536/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683657677/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199684720272/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683659401/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683364246/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683966786/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683452008/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683460052/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683737900/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683216729/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683406582/recommended/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/profiles/76561199683415784/recommended/



The 4 dev accounts that posted the games:
https://steamhost.cn/search/?developer=DeepRootsDevelop
https://steamhost.cn/search/?developer=DarkEnergyStudio
https://steamhost.cn/search/?developer=ZaratustraGameDev
https://steamhost.cn/search/?developer=NAD%20Games

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://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/groups/Sentinels_of_the_Store/announcements/detail/4553794655131533944

So something cool (or at least I think it's cool). Occular Malice, with the help of AI, has put together a song about Sentinels of the Store and he's very kindly allowed me to share it out in the wild.

Please do go give it a listen, I think it's very neat! Thanks, Occular! <3

https://youtu.be/sddQxlSToOw

Originally posted by Shattered mind:

moving this from the games sharing thread now that it's more or less confirmed to be Atomic Fabrik, I was really hoping the initial remaining titles in this thread was going to be the last we heard from AF.

Originally posted by Shattered mind:

and another one... note how the requirements for the games are all the same up till space required.

oh and of course the 100+ bot/fake reviews.(on the titles that has been released long enough.)

https://steamhost.cn/app/3211510/Falling_Cube/

so, so far we got:

games

https://steamhost.cn/app/3211510/Falling_Cube/
https://steamhost.cn/app/3183800/Math_in_Space/
https://steamhost.cn/app/3176750/Lets_play_Cards_Baccarat/
https://steamhost.cn/app/3204440/The_Cube_of_Love/
https://steamhost.cn/app/3176820/Drift_On_Snow/
https://steamhost.cn/app/3176880/Lets_play_Cards_Solitaire/
https://steamhost.cn/app/3177050/Fog_Racing_Circuit/
https://steamhost.cn/app/3227380/Tanks_Racing_Sim/
https://steamhost.cn/app/3231910/Underwater_Cycling/
https://steamhost.cn/app/3231900/Go_Babies/

Dev/publisher

Squadroni Cacciatori S.R.L.
Goritta Klaus
Martha B
Squadroni Cacciatori
belucio
PIRITA CO
givanni pellegio

I've had a small break from steam stuff, so I'm sure there's more out there that I haven't come across yet....

Thanks for sharing Shattered Mind!

I went ahead and bought Falling Cube, and take a look at what I found in the files :)

https://imgur.com/L95dYUA

I'll update our article and also flag this game/alias on our curator as a confirmed connection.

Originally posted by Gelweo:

https://steamhost.cn/app/3177050/Fog_Racing_Circuit/

https://steamdb.info/app/3177050/

Seems they are back with these overpricing methods...

Hi Gelweo,

Good catch! We did an article about your initial findings with some of our own! While it's circumstantial evidence regarding Fog Racing Circuit, we have been able to conclusively tie AF to another account we found through that game.

Thanks again.

Enjoy the Steam points!

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/groups/Sentinels_of_the_Store/announcements/detail/4553794020397063787

Hi D!

Thanks very much for bringing this to our attention. We're giving this a careful look over as there are some peculiar and new trends that we've taken note of in this case that I imagine we'll be discussing about more in the not so distant future!

Thanks for the tip! Enjoy your Steam points!

Originally posted by Shattered mind:

Originally posted by Mellow_Online1:

Hi all!

I decided to take this topic and make it the focus for an article I wrote on GBAMFS.

https://gbamfs.wixsite.com/gbamfs/post/steam-users-should-be-allowed-to-ignore-more-curators-and-developers

my suggestion wouldn't negatively effect users, I'm not talking about replacing search with dev-pages, regular steam search would still be aviable - I'm simply talking about making dev pages mandatory for devs for tranparency issues. There's literally no downside to implementing this, even if dev-pages needs improvements as far as filter options etc. go, it would also be a step towards validating developers/publishers and curbing duplicates.

My main point was primarily calling on Steam to first improve both the functionality and expand the features of developer homepages before mandating developers to make use of them. The sheer fact users need to swap in between the two to get the full search functionality I feel is ridiculous. I feel it's in everyone's interest for Valve to get the basics of this down first before they put a mandate on, which I am in favour of, but I'd like to see it be as feature complete first before a change were to roll out.

Hi all!

I decided to take this topic and make it the focus for an article I wrote on GBAMFS.

https://gbamfs.wixsite.com/gbamfs/post/steam-users-should-be-allowed-to-ignore-more-curators-and-developers

Hi guys!

Some of the topics you brought up here including Atomic Fabrik's remaining games and the announcements/news posts/promotions of Valkyrie Initiative games on other store pages has just been covered in our latest Sentinels announcement!

Thanks for sharing your findings!

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/groups/Sentinels_of_the_Store/announcements/detail/4686647673457663992

***NEW SENTINELS OF THE STORE ARTICLE IS LIVE***

Steam publisher Valkyrie Initiative secretly owns almost 400 games on Steam and is actively concealing their involvement while manipulating reviews.

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/groups/Sentinels_of_the_Store/announcements/detail/4686647673457663992