NEW STEAM SENTINELS ARTICLE

This week, in a news quickie, we discuss the new changes Steam have announced in response to criticisms they received from developers regarding store page promotions.

Read what these changes are in our latest article: https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/groups/Sentinels_of_the_Store/announcements/detail/4587567213538731572

New article on Sentinels of the Store!

Today, we discuss the second change that Steam recently announced: changes to how user reviews work.

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/groups/Sentinels_of_the_Store/announcements/detail/4621343576417433412

Originally posted by Obey the Fist!:

Originally posted by Mellow_Online1:

Hi Obey the First!

Could you share some screenshots regarding the app info file in the game directory? Sounds like something Steam would be keen to hear about!

https://imgur.com/a/DrigKiw

Thanks! I'll send an email over about it! Many thanks!

Originally posted by Mellow_Online1:

Originally posted by Obey the Fist!:

Another missed one:

https://steamhost.cn/app/2864300/Zombodesert/

Digging through the game files, there's an "app.info" file, the contents of which are:

Atomic Fabrik
Zombodesert

Interestingly, SteamDB shows this was only ever published under Gamesforgames. And of course, all the usual Obzor fake reviews.

Hi Obey the First!

Could you share some screenshots regarding the app info file in the game directory? Sounds like something Steam would be keen to hear about!

Nevermind, I bit the bullet and decided to buy the game myself to check, and sure enough, you're correct. The App Info folder does indeed have Atomic Fabrik listed! Thanks for the tip off @Obey the Fist!

Originally posted by Obey the Fist!:

Another missed one:

https://steamhost.cn/app/2864300/Zombodesert/

Digging through the game files, there's an "app.info" file, the contents of which are:

Atomic Fabrik
Zombodesert

Interestingly, SteamDB shows this was only ever published under Gamesforgames. And of course, all the usual Obzor fake reviews.

Hi Obey the First!

Could you share some screenshots regarding the app info file in the game directory? Sounds like something Steam would be keen to hear about!

Originally posted by Obey the Fist!:

Probably needs an update, you've been too successful and some of the asset flips are banned now.

Certainly right! I'll have to find the time to give it a proper rewrite!

Spoiler: ALL the asset flips got banned. The games remaining are the non-asset flip titles, lol

NEW STEAM SENTINELS ARTICLE OUT NOW!

Today, we talk about one of two new announcements coming from Steam. This one focuses on changes to store page descriptions.

Are they good changes? Bad changes?

Find out here! Let me know your thoughts!

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/groups/Sentinels_of_the_Store/announcements/detail/4253173672922400381

Another Atomic Fabrik update.

This evening, Valve emailed me re: a report I wrote about some of what I believed to be games that AF still owned on Steam, based upon games linked both here and in other discussions, but redacting games that I was confident had been transferred to other publishers.

AF denied the claims that he had more games on Steam, alleging in the X post that all of these titles had been reacquired by other developers/publishers.

Valve said they would investigate.

4 minutes after receiving this email, a further 7 games were banned from Steam.

Seemingly another lie from Cristian.

Granted, there were more games I alleged to still be owned than just these 7, but no action has been taken as of now.

I will accept the results that come of Valve investigating the games, and any games remaining after the next few days I will remove from our curator.

https://x.com/MellowOnline1/status/1826376718187372881

Something neat I thought I'd share.

The news of Atomic Fabrik's removal has travelled quite far in some international spaces, so much so some large gaming news outlets in Brazil, France and Spain have been reporting on it. Very well done to everyone who stayed on top of the Atomic Fabrik case.

https://br.ign.com/steam/128383/news/valve-remove-248-jogos-do-steam-mas-isso-e-uma-noticia-boa-uma-das-empresas-mais-sacanas-da-platafor

https://www.3djuegos.com/pc/noticias/valve-acaba-eliminar-250-juegos-steam-buena-noticia-se-ha-cargado-a-empresas-oscuras-que-habia-su-tienda

https://www.jeuxvideo.com/news/1914832/steam-a-decide-de-retirer-ces-248-jeux-video-de-sa-boutique-mais-c-est-une-excellente-nouvelle-ils-ont-mis-la-plateforme-de-valve-dans-l-embarras.htm

Some potential news: I've heard that Badim, the original owner of a few Atomic Fabrik apps may now be looking at reacquiring their apps after the games have been banned.

I'm seeking to confirm this, but if this is true and is followed through, expect to see some apps unbanned and under new ownership.