Summary
Valve has removed a malicious free-to-play title fromSteamafter the game’s developer “uploaded builds that contained suspected malware.” The game in question isPirateFi, which was released onSteamon February 6 before being taken down by Valve less than a week later. While only a handful of people appear to have launchedPirateFi, Valve has begun contacting players with a warning that their computers have likely been infected with malicious files.
While theEpic Games Store continues to give away free gamesand attract new users regularly, there’s no denying that Steam remains the most dominant platform for PC users searching for the best PC games around. The storefront has been around since 2003 and was originally developed as a software client to provide new updates for Valve’s games. Since then, Valve has expanded the platform tremendously, with the majority of triple-a titles and indie games also now on Steam. Back in July 2024, Steam even broke its own record for concurrent users with nearly 37 million active users at one time.
Malicious Steam Game Taken Down By Valve
While Steam users can access many ofthe best indie gamesand triple-a titles, it does appear that the occasional scam game can slip through the cracks. As reported by SteamDB, Valve has taken downPirateFi, a supposed survival game that offered players the chance to explore the sea, fish, and embark on new adventures either with friends or solo. The title was developed and published by a studio known as Seaworth Interactive, with it being the only game from the developer. Unfortunately, it looks like this relatively unknown title was designed with the intent of infecting users' computers with malware. Those who launched the game should have received an email from Valve that urges them to run a full system scan as they may be infected with malware.
According to theSteamDB pageforPirateFi, the game only peaked at 5 concurrent players during its short lifespan, which means the number of users infected is likely relatively small. However, the game’scommunity pagedoes have various posts and negative reviews from players urging others not to download the title.One usersaid it “ran [their] Steam wallet dry,” claiming that the game wouldn’t even start when they attempted to launch it but a few days later they noticed their account had been compromised as somebody was using their wallet funds to purchaseDota 2skins. Another user urged players to change their passwords as most of their accounts had been hacked due toPirateFi.
It’s unclear if the malware inPirateFislipped through Steam’s approval stage or if the game was simply updated with malicious files after it was made available on the platform. The email being sent to players suggests it was the latter, as Valve says the developer “uploaded builds to Steam that contained suspected malware.” Unfortunately, incidents like this are becoming all too common for PC players. Last year, someCities: Skylines 2players were also infected with malwareafter a popular mod was updated with malicious files. Paradox Interactive apologized to players and urged fans to secure their systems immediately.
