Steam Game Faces Double Malware Assault in a Year: ‘Things Aren’t Looking Promising’

People Playground has gained a massive following on Steam, boasting hundreds of thousands of reviews as a quirky physics simulator where players can experiment with stick figures. Since its launch in 2019, the game has faced significant challenges, including two serious incidents involving malicious mods this year. The developer has issued a warning that the latest incident is particularly severe, advising players who have recently engaged with the game to take immediate action, including deleting files and running antivirus scans.

In a recent update, the developer, mestiez, explained, “You might have noticed the Workshop has disappeared again. I disabled it quite a few hours ago due to yet another malicious mod. This one is especially bad.” Players who accessed the game on September 21 are urged to exercise caution: “Delete all your mods in your mods folder and do not open the game until I’ve announced on Steam that it’s safe to do so.”

So, what’s happening? Mestiez seems uncertain about the full extent of the issue, but the malicious mod reportedly has the capability to hack computers, delete data, monitor Discord activity, and even self-publish additional mods to Steam, perpetuating the spread of the virus. “I can’t say with certainty what exactly happened or what this program did, but it’s not looking good,” the developer noted. The mod could potentially lead to significant data loss and expose personal information, including Discord usernames.

Initially, mestiez stated that the malware “DOES NOT steal your passwords, tokens, cookies, or other credentials. It will not hack you, but it’s a catastrophic piece of malware nonetheless.” However, this statement was later retracted, with a new recommendation to change passwords for important accounts to invalidate any session tokens that might have been compromised.

This isn’t the first time People Playground has faced such threats; a similar incident occurred in February, where the malware primarily disrupted game files and mod lists. The current attack, however, poses a much greater risk. The developer expressed frustration over the repeated targeting of the game and requested players refrain from speculation about the culprits. “This is entirely my responsibility, and we gain nothing from throwing around rumors or speculations,” they stated.

Despite the developer’s efforts to address the situation, the post regarding the malware has already attracted over 1,000 comments, with some players expressing their intention to abandon the game altogether. One user remarked, “Crazy this is the first post even though there’s been several Malware mods pop up,” while another shared their disbelief: “Crazy this is the only game I’ve seen that has malware not once but TWICE in my time of owning it. I’m not gonna get all mad and rant, so I’ll keep it short. To the devs: this is SO not ok to have!”