On the 31st of July, a game was removed from a video game platform due to claims of crypto-mining activity. The game called Abstractism has had over 6000 users who have purchased it from ‘Steam’ since its launch in mid-March.
The game as it is is very simple whose official description calls it a complete trifling platformer, however, the main exceptional characteristic is that there is 'Game over!' But rather, there is an ASMR soundtrack, a fancy moderately design and a soothing environment inside.
However, on ‘Crappy Games Wikipedia’, where it has been listed as a below average game, the reasons for it to be ‘Sub-par’ are poor controls, bad graphics, over-priced game items and the presence of a cryptocurrency mining virus.
Soon after its launch, gamers began complaining that it acted like a crypto-jacker as in, it was very computer-heavy which was strange given that the graphics of the game were very primitive. Further suspicions began to arise when Okalo Union, the developer of the game, encouraged users to keep the game running continuously and finally there was always an issue with the game frequently triggering the anti-virus.
Initially the game did attract attention due to the feature of selling knockoff items since it has been bootlegged into a famous game known as ‘Team Fortress 2’.
The malware was first uncovered when a gamer reported that he had been cheated when he traded a valuable item for a fake ‘Strange Australium Rocket Launcher’.
After further investigation, it was found out that Abstractism had made a virtual copy of the real item and stuck it on top of their own items. Another investigation suggested that most of the items on the game were useless.
In response, Steam removed the game and a spokesperson stated:
“We have removed Abstractism and banned its developer from Steam for shipping unauthorized code, trolling with content, and scamming customers with deceptive in-game items.”
This wasn’t the first game to have suffered from a mining malware, a few weeks ago, popular internet game, League of Legends was infected by the notorious Monero mining malware where the mining took place in the background without the knowledge of the gamers and without alerting the system. Both these games had one similarity, that is, they both run continuously once the game is played.
