Do you think that ZombieRush dev exploited review system on Steam?

Hm wow. Reported the group

Great game for it-s small prize

Why you need to even ask this question, if you can see nicknames in recent reviews and understand everything without even looking in their profiles? If you want details, here i'll explain what happened:

1. Another russian "developer" dumbass released another shitty shovelware in steam store, and offered on some forums keys for positive reviews (yes, fair and honest reviews are not allowed).
2. Some other dumbass(es) grab free keys as much as he/they can to farm cards on his/their bot accounts, and posted generic reviews to complete developer request. That's why all reviewers have same play time.
3. Because developer doesn't have brains, he doesn't care that reviews obviously fake, since he also getting profit from every sold card.

I just hope that Valve ban this game and "developer", and also suspend all bots that wrote reviews on this game. There is still hope that this will actually happen and maybe after that "developers" like this will use their brain before giving away keys for positive reviews.

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IGN 7/10

Gamesport 7.5

Steamgifbs People 8/10

The reviewers made me buy it!!!

Do you remember scumbag EA trying to reverse the bad reviews of Simcity 5?

Hey Woochy, a few more bullet points for your original post (from comments in this thread, linked below):

• They all joined Steam the same date
• Most accounts have reviewed the exact same four games
• The users have previous names from Pokemon with XYZ added at the end: "DugtrioXYZ"

https://www.steamgifts.com/go/comment/8aZ0Srr
https://www.steamgifts.com/go/comment/3oqyTQU
https://www.steamgifts.com/go/comment/Bzwr2gT

Honestly, I don't even care. I've seen developers doing worse things than this one. I know that these fake reviews could probably persuade some people to buy this game, but still, it's always up to the person that intends to buy it to see some gameplay videos in order to decide if they're going to like it. Still, don't think that I support the developer. It's obviously a stupid move from him, but I just don't find it too important if you compare it to the things that other developers have done in the past.

From one of the reviews:

Gud graphitc i lik is good game i play for every day and happpy now

Time played: 3.5 hrs last two weeks / 3.5 hrs on record

...

A Steam mod took notice of the reports and informed the higher-ups to investigate. It should only be a matter of time now.

Surfed the web today and found:
http://mmofallout.com/nm-zombierush-is-definitely-buying-reviews/
https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/4nczdg/apparently_someone_is_exploiting_the_review/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/4ncxof/apparently_someone_is_exploiting_the_review/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/4nfxfj/steam_spy_on_twitter_looks_like_someone_figured/

Updated the first comment with links. I didn't know it will turn out to be such a big thing!

The group has been banned. Admins games has been removed from greenlight. Already greenlit not removed from Store.

Edit: Admin has community banned too, it seems.

Well, looks like it uncovered something deeper, based on the findings in the reddit post. The game Zombie Rush is a clone of, Lemorzin, has a secret non-linked 100-dollar DLC: http://store.steampowered.com/app/463990
Apparently, someone is laundering money. And not even attempting to hide it.

Updated info in my first comment!

Noticed the same thing about Base Squad (in a current Indie gala bundle). Same naming structure and same few, mostly free, games, so I guess it's the same bots. Decided to not buy the bundle based on that.

I want to puke abit tbh.
So what game was this person involved in creating as the user got the "Steamworks Developer" badge and he also felt the urge to include most of his bots into this project to get them that +100 XP from the badge.
Also impressive to add over 6k games to your account in less than 3 years, doable.. But a cool milestone.

And is really their second line of defense to flood innocent devs with bad reviews unless they give them what they ask for?

Super played DLC, really played..........
http://steamcharts.com/app/463990#All

It's not like the person is trying to hide what is going on so :]

"So hard to get Greenlit? self.greenlightquality

submitted 20 hours ago by XXXX

I have solution. please add me here XXXX"

100914 Removed store name – Base Square 49
about 4 hours ago
102939 Removed store name – ZombieRush
about 4 hours ago
103002 Removed store name – Lands Of Devastation
about 4 hours ago
105068 Removed store name – Rapid Squirrel
about 4 hours ago
105592 Removed store name – Electric Zombies

several games related to this removed from sale.

Thanks for more info! I included it in my first post.

Made some research, then i go to sleep, and some info that i discovered 10 hours ago in 2AM is already known. Oh well, i always late to parties :( Well, i tried to summarize all info that i found about this game and developers, hope this will be useful for somebody. Because English is not my native language, i'm sorry if there'll be some confusing wording in my post.

1. First of all, starting point of my little research was searching for ZombieRush developer. Steam store mention some "Arthur Kariev". I tried to find this person in social networks and linkedin, and... I found nothing. There is no developers with name Arthur Kariev, at least nobody who mentioned bout it in his profile. Also, there is no promotional page for game itself anywhere, even in VK, most popular russian social network. So, I didn't found developer in social networks, but there was another way to find out who the hell released this game in steam.

2. Unexpectedly, simple Google search for "Arthur Kariev" gave some interesting info about this mysterious developer. This name appeared in Igromania developers database - http://www.igromania.ru/company/572471/ I need to clarify, that this site is 100% legit, Igromania is one of the oldest russian magazine and their videogaming base are one of the most accurate, at least in post-soviet region. Arthur Kariev is listed here as developer of ZombieRush, Base Squad 49 (Early Access title) and 28 Waves Later. Let's not rush and firstly look at Base Suqad 49.

3. Base Squad 49 (http://store.steampowered.com/app/462060/) is developed and published by some Rai Studio Games. As expected, i didn't found any info about this company and their games, no promotional pages in social networks, simply nothing. Outside steam store, this studio is basically not exists. But then why it connected with ZombieRush? Answer is on ZombieRush announcement page - http://steamcommunity.com/games/467460/announcements/detail/876325890347378676 This announcement posted by Rai Studio Games steam profile.

4. In Rai Studio Games you can see name Артур - http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198276115160 Arthur Kariev? Even more interesting discovery waiting us in his nickname history - Kakaha Studio, hahaha! Wait, you don't get it? Sorry, of course you probably don't, let me translate this from russian - this is literally "Poop (or Shit) Studio". What developer will call his studio like this?

5. Okay, let's return to Igromania videogames base. Besides ZombieRush and Base Squad 49, Arthur Kariev is mentioned as developer of 28 Waves Later. What the hell is this game? Simple steam search, and here we are - http://store.steampowered.com/app/444290/ Game is not released yet and developer is different again. But this time, this is not just another unknown studio - this game is developed and published by Dagestan Technology, creators of Bloodbath Kavkaz. We will return to them lately, now we need more valid proof than some unknown russian magazine that Arthur Kariev, Rai Studio Games and Dagestan Technology are basically the same studio. And here you have it - go to Rapid Squirrel (Rai Studio game) greenlight page - http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=677856101 - click to watch video on youtube - discover that uploader of this video is Артур Кариев - watch 28 Waves Later Trailer on this channel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2fUzjlkKtI - see Dagestan Technology logo. Well done, we found original developers of ZombieRush!
   After this publication, developers from Dagestan Technology contacted with me and answered on all my questions. First of all, they explained situation with 28 Waves Later - this game really was originally developed by Arthur Kariev, but shortly after project was greenlit Kariev abandoned 28 Waves Later development and started to work on his other projects, without involving Dagestan Technology. DT finishing development of 28 Waves Later on their own.

6. Few words about Dagestan Technology. Unlike other "developers" mentioned here, this company even have promotional pages in social networks like Twitter and VK. They also have an official site - http://www.dagestantechnology.ru/ On this site, they offering help for "indie-developers" in releasing and promoting game in steam, from greenlight stage and beyond. Look at their list of published games, you can discover a lot interesting stuff too - http://store.steampowered.com/search/?publisher=Dagestan%20Technology Those names were seems familiar for me, so i found this forum - https://darkteam.net/forum/forum=razdachi-klyuchey-k-igram-steam-ot-razrabotchikov I discovered it, when one SG user created discussion here on steamgifts and said that he’s creating giveaways from developers on his forum. After i looked at those "giveaways", i found that they offered free keys in exchange of "Yes" votes for greenlight titles and positive reviews, all with proofs required. For example, google translate this thread - https://darkteam.net/forum/thread=razdacha-klyuchey-k-igre-russian-horror-story-ot-razrabotchika And i think this is not just one forum, there is much more private forums that offering keys for greenlight votes and reviews.
   Dagestan Technology denied that they required greenlight votes and positive reviews to their games. They provided me proof that they original message to admin of Darkteam forum was only about creating promo giveaways with mentioning info about their company and upcoming titles (obviously, it's on russian) - http://i.imgur.com/MlrLOsE.png

7. And one last thing about this company. Some of the games that they published are actually developed by other studios, but it seems that Dagestan Technology is scamming some of them too. For example, developers of game Under Zero - http://store.steampowered.com/app/454930/ are legit and they have VK page. But on this page i found message, were those developers saying that they leaving Dagestan Technology and begin to work on their new project - https://vk.com/wall-117680658_69 But Under Zero still in Early Access and DT even actively selling keys in bundles, there is no any announcement about ceasing Under Zero development.
   Dagestan Technology confirmed that Obidak software is not involved in Under Zero development anymore, but they promised to continue development on their own just like with 28 Waves Later, as soon as their received funds to pay for work of freelance studio. No plans about removing game from the store.

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Bot creator has been banned from community:
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198099557613
https://steamrep.com/search?q=http%3A%2F%2Fsteamcommunity.com%2Fprofiles%2F76561198099557613

Some devs and users took it upon themselves to manipulate the review system, which is obviously something that is not encouraged by Steam. Some people used giveaway websites, like Steamgifts and Steamcompanion, to "trade" game keys for positive reviews. We're currently banning those users and reporting them and the developers involved to Valve.

happens quite often
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198140750085/friends/