Steam removes 2D platformer allegedly infected with malware, but not before it apparently steals over $150,000 in cryptocurrency from players

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The threat called BlockBlasters has now been blasted away

Steam logo from Valve
(Image credit: Valve)

Steam users allege an unassuming, free-to-play 2D platformer named BlockBlasters is actually malware in disguise, left to flourish like a fungus on the digital storefront for nearly a month before Valve finally removed it. Nonetheless, BlockBlasters apparently had enough time to drain over $150,000 in cryptocurrency from people who downloaded it.

This is according to claims by crypto investment firm Paradigm advisor ZachXBT, which is known online for recreationally investigating what they determine are notable cryptocurrency scams. The anonymous detective addresses Steam in a September 21 post on Twitter, writing, "You clowns allow malware on your platform that has resulted in $150K+ stolen from victims (fake game has been available to download for more than a month)."

Screenshots show that BlockBlasters comes from a developer calling itself Genesis Interactive. While there are several crypto ventures in both investment and gaming that use the word "genesis" in their names, Genesis Interactive is a ghost online aside from a BlockBlasters Twitter account and SteamDB listing identifying BlockBlasters as its only title. SteamDB has also "flagged this app," labelling BlockBlasters "as suspicious."

The alleged BlockBlasters scam has suddenly drawn attention after cancer patient and cryptocurrency enthusiast Raivo Plavnieks said he was "drained for over 32,000$ USD of my creator fees earned on @pumpdotfun," a memecoin exchange platform, after downloading BlockBlasters. Other crypto personalities also report thousands of dollars stolen after downloading BlockBlasters, requesting "action" from Valve boss Gabe Newell.

Notably, these claims seem to have all been made between September 20 and September 22; BlockBlasters has been on Steam since August 17, according to the first and only post on its Twitter account.

"My heart wants to jump out of my mouth and it hurts," Plavnieks writes on Twitter in response to the theft. A team of avenging angels then swooped in to provide what they describe in a publicly viewable Google document as "technical evidence" that BlockBlasters is a scam and "An heinous act of cowardice."

Unfortunately, expensive deception like the kind alleged here is commonplace in the crypto world, where fortunes are only as safe as whatever password is guarding them.

That said, it's unusual – and, actually, hugely detrimental – for a possible scam to be hosted on an otherwise legitimate site like Steam. GamesRadar+ has reached out to Valve for comment.

The avenging angels also address Valve in their Google doc: "appalling levels of vetting, how can you let such brazen malware exist on your platform."

Steam founder Gabe Newell is investing his $9.5 billion fortune in his new passion, big ass boats, because he's "a hands-on visionary who respects the sea."

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Ashley Bardhan
Ashley Bardhan
Senior Writer

Ashley is a Senior Writer at GamesRadar+. She's been a staff writer at Kotaku and Inverse, too, and she's written freelance pieces about horror and women in games for sites like Rolling Stone, Vulture, IGN, and Polygon. When she's not covering gaming news, she's usually working on expanding her doll collection while watching Saw movies one through 11.

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