Over the last couple of years, Steam has repeatedly been infected with games discovered to contain malware. These were games that somehow could disrupt computer function or otherwise steal a user’s personal information. Now, months later, the Federal Bureau of Investigation says that it suspects some of these Steam games were the product of a larger scheme.
The federal law enforcement and information agency has thus set up a web page dedicated entirely to the Steam situation. In it, a handful of games seemingly tied to crypto scams were cited as primary suspects. These include titles such as BlockBlasters, Chemia, Dashverse, Lampy, Lunara, PirateFi, and Tokenova. When they were originally released, many of these illicit Trojan horses looked and played just like a normal Steam game would. The games also varied in genre, from FPS titles to platformers. In most cases, the malware was distributed via in-game patches that were later discovered to be suspicious. At least one early access title asked players to opt into a playtest before injecting dangerous software.
Generally, Valve acted rapidly to terminate the offending games after discovering their insidious nature. BlockBlasters, for example, only ever reached a peak of 7 concurrent users according to SteamDB. Despite its limited reach, BlockBlasters was also accused of robbing at least one player of $150,000 in crypto. gamexplore cannot verify that specific claim, but it also seems unlikely that the FBI would kick off an investigation unless the damage somewhere was significant or the offenders committed a serious crime.
“The actors behind these schemes operate in a complex ecosystem of developers, affiliates, and service providers who are all constantly modifying their tactics and techniques,” reads the FBI Cyber Division page.
In this case, the FBI has not shared much information about what it has found regarding malware games on Steam. The agency has only noted that it believes the “primary threat actor” was active on Steam between May 2024 and January 2026. Otherwise, the FBI is encouraging the public to share information relevant to the case, and for any victims to get in touch for the investigation.
“Based on the responses provided, you may be contacted by the FBI and asked to provide additional information,” the website reads. “All identities of victims will be kept confidential.”
