"Malicious" mod that deletes files spreading through Steam Workshop just like John Carpenter's The Thing, says dev of sandbox hit with 300,000 reviews: "It replaces them with itself. This is how it spreads"

If you're a People Playground player who uses mods, you might have noticed the Workshop is turned off. This is not an accident, as developer Mestiez removed it in lieu of discovering some form of infection that's spreading through game modifications - oh dear.

On February 1, Mestiez posted an update on Steam explaining the situation. A "malicious addon" is making the rounds through the Workshop, leading to the removal of mods entirely for the time being, and instructions on how to run the game without putting yourself at any risk.

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Thankfully, protections are now in place to prevent this thing from doing any damage, though Workshop remains turned off until Mestiez can get in touch with Steam to discuss what's going on. The company has reached out to Valve, but has not yet had any word back.

"If you have created any mods, it replaces them with itself. This is how it spreads," Mestiez adds. Presumably it piggybacks on you uploading the mod to any given platform. Clever, but distinctly annoying carry on.

It doesn't seem like much damage was done here, but People Playground has over 300,000 reviews on Steam; that's a lot of potential victims. Something like this could run riot through mod-heavy communities like those for Skyrim or Fallout: New Vegas. Hopefully, Valve works in tandem with Mestiez to make sure that doesn't happen and firewalls the Workshop for this breed of nuisance.

New GOG owner reckons it doesn't have to beat Steam outright, just do a few things better: "If there's a version of the game that's clearly better on GOG, and it has the promise that it will run forever… people will come."

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