Sentinels of the Store

SteamWatch - Steam Enforces "Hidden Cats" Trademark - Indie Developers Forced to Rename or Risk Removal “ Hidden Cats ” is a micro-genre within the broader hidden object (HOG) space: illustrated puzzle games where players search detailed scenes to find concealed cats. Over the past several years, multip...

New Sentinels of the Store article!

Steam is enforcing a trademark over "Hidden Cats". Developers are scrambling to rename their titles.

Valve has poorly handled the claim, which is in itself anti-competitive, anti-developer and anti-consumer.

Full article here: steamcommunity.com/groups/Senti...

SteamWatch - Developers Accuse Steam of Failing to Tackle Bigotry Steam is under mainstream scrutiny this week following a detailed report in The Guardian titled “‘ This shouldn’t be normal’: developers speak out about bigotry on Steam, the world’s biggest PC gaming...

New @steamsentinels.bsky.social article!

@steampowered.com has landed on the front page of @theguardian.com.

Developers are speaking out about bigoted reviews, curator campaigns, and what they describe as inconsistent moderation on the platform.

steamcommunity.com/groups/Senti...

SteamWatch - Atomic Fabrik is on the Epic Games Store First of all, apologies for my absence the last few weeks - work was hectic and I was briefly out of action with chicken pox. Back to business as usual now. Almost two years ago, Atomic Fabrik was rem...

New @steamsentinels.bsky.social article!

Atomic Fabrik was removed from @steampowered.com in 2024 after documented abuse of review and pricing systems.

They remain on Epic.

Recent discussion brought it back into focus, so I’ve written up a full breakdown.

Read here:

The @steamsentinels.bsky.social community are awesome.

Even in my absence, we've still seen people joining our group in large quantities.

Let's make @steampowered.com better

Sorry for the silence on my part.

Been pretty busy IRL, and I'm also battling the worst headache and nausea I've had probably in my life, which has been a major hurdle for me in making anything @steamsentinels.bsky.social related.

I'll get back to it as soon as I'm back in shape.

Steam Removes Nearly 100 Games Linked to Obzor Review Manipulation - Plus an Important Clarification Yesterday, a large batch of nearly 100 games were removed from Steam. This followed an exchange of information between ourselves and Steam regarding Obzor and review manipulation activity on the platf...

New @steamsentinels.bsky.social article!

@steampowered.com Removes Nearly 100 Games Linked to Obzor Review Manipulation - Plus an Important Clarification

steamcommunity.com/groups/Senti...

Welcome Summit Reviews to the Sentinel Network! We’re pleased to officially welcome Summit Reviews into the Sentinel Network. Summit Reviews are an independent, international collective of experienced writers known for their professional, in-depth ...

Welcome @summitreviews.biz to the @steamsentinels.bsky.social Network!

steamcommunity.com/groups/Senti...

9 Years of Sentinels - A Ramble From Me Today, Sentinels of the Store turns 9 years old. Nine years ago, on January 17th 2017, I made the decision to create this group. The world was very different back then. Steam was very different. I was...

Today, @steamsentinels.bsky.social turns 9 years old!

Here's a little ramble from me.

steamcommunity.com/groups/Senti...

Steam Remove Thousands of Obzor Reviews - Our Progress Begins Now Hi all, First of all, a quick apology in advance: there are going to be a few announcements going up this week. The first landed yesterday with our latest podcast episode , where we discussed a range ...

New @steamsentinels.bsky.social article!

@steampowered.com Remove Thousands of Obzor Reviews - Our Progress Begins Now

steamcommunity.com/groups/Senti...

When Trust Breaks - Steam Sentinels Podcast - Ep.12 YouTube video by Mellow Online1

New @steamsentinels.bsky.social Podcast

This week we talk about review manipulation on @steampowered.com, a community comment comeback on cautious buying and more!

Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr6I...

#Steam #PCGaming #GameDev #SteamReviews #GamingNews #SentinelsOfTheStore

The @steampowered.com community backs @steamsentinels.bsky.social's plan to tackle review manipulation.

2026 – The War Against Review Manipulation 2026 marks our ninth year as a community. A year where we hope to continue growing, strengthening our work, and advancing consumer awareness on Steam. But it is also the year we are committing to tack...

We’ve just published a new @steamsentinels.bsky.social article outlining our 2026 focus: sustained action against review manipulation on @steampowered.com.

Read here: steamcommunity.com/groups/Senti...

2025: A Year Where Trust Was Tested Repeatedly Looking back on 2025, what stands out isn’t a single defining moment - it’s how often the same questions had to be answered again and again. This was a year spent circling trust: how it’s earned, how ...

2025: A Year Where Trust Was Tested Repeatedly

steamcommunity.com/groups/Senti...

Moral Panic - Steam Sentinels Podcast (Ep.11) YouTube video by Mellow Online1

New @steamsentinels.bsky.social Podcast episode “Moral Panic” is live.

We discuss fake censorship narratives, AI, @steampowered.com policy confusion & bad-faith outrage

Where does genuine concern end - and moral panic begin?

Watch now: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaJU...

#Steam #PCGaming #GameDev

Horses, AI, Anime Girls, and How They All Got Delisted From Steam We’ve had a particularly interesting couple weeks of delisted releases on Steam - especially given that a significant number of them have been high-profile releases. While it's not uncommon to see gam...

New @steamsentinels.bsky.social article!

'HORSES' and taboo horror, 'Postal'-adjacent AI backlash, and a gacha game quietly vanishing after wishlist incentives - Caff digs into three very different delistings.

steamcommunity.com/groups/Senti...

#Steam #IndieDev #AIArt #GameIndustry

Hold Your Horses | Steam Sentinels Podcast (Ep.10) YouTube video by Mellow Online1

Hold Your Horses - @steamsentinels.bsky.social Podcast (Ep.10)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP9v...

This week, we dive into Horses being banned across storefronts, Postal: Bullet Paradise & the AI backlash & Tim Sweeney vs Steam's AI disclosure labels.

Where does moderation end and censorship begin?

Spam, Ram & Scams | Steam Sentinels Podcast (Ep.9) YouTube video by Mellow Online1

New @steamsentinels.bsky.social Podcast Episode!

While I was away, @sirviolentdeath.bsky.social, Ratchet, and Caff took over hosting duties and delivered a banger of an episode!

Steam Game Spam, Bundle Sites and RAM shortages, all this and more in the latest episode!

youtu.be/dCH3v7sbFVI

Charity Stream: Safe in Our World: Eternal Darkness Sanity's Requiem YouTube video by Dragnix

Next, Dragnix is streaming 'Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem' for our @safeinourworld.org fundraiser as part of @steamsentinels.bsky.social charity drive on @tiltify.com

Check Dragnix out below and also consider donating! We're over halfway!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BRT...

tilt.fyi/zTCVx9KVme

Steam Sentinels Podcast LIVE Q&A Session On Sunday, November 23rd at 11pm GMT, Mellow, Ratchet and SirViolentDeath of Sentinels of the Store will be doing a live Q&A in addition to their podcast discussions. The live stream will be done in ...

forms.gle/CKSfHm1m5eSj...

This Sunday at 11 pm GMT, myself, Ratchet and @sirviolentdeath.bsky.social will be hosting a live episode of the @steamsentinels.bsky.social podcast.

Alongside our comment comeback segment, we will be answering questions sent in and also hosting a giveaway.

Charity 2025 (Stream 1): Cyberpunk 2077: The Phantom Pain YouTube video by Lord Crocosquirrel

LIVE NOW!

Lord Crocosquirrel is streaming for the @steamsentinels.bsky.social fundraiser for @safeinourworld.org playing @cyberpunk.net The Phantom Pain

Check him out here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuub...

Dandruff_Luvs_You - Twitch Self Proclaimed Video Game Pundit and Computer Nerd. She/her pronouns.

Starting now-ish!

@newscartridge.bsky.social will be live shortly playing @seaofthieves.com for our @safeinourworld.org charity fundraiser!

www.twitch.tv/dandruff_luv...

Donate using the link below!

Raffle entries, shoutouts and games are available!

tiltify.com/@mellow_onli...

Cyberpunk 2077 Charity Stream - 129 Mods and loving it! YouTube video by English Teacher Plays

The day has come!

@steamsentinels.bsky.social charity fundraising for @safeinourworld.org has started!

Firing the starting gun for us is English Teacher Plays with Cyberpunk 2077!

www.youtube.com/live/F-zrVhl...

Key Revocations & New Hardware | Steam Sentinels Podcast (Ep.7) YouTube video by Mellow Online1

The @steamsentinels.bsky.social Podcast – Episode 7: Revoked Keys & New Hardware

This week, we break down @steampowered.com’s key revocation meltdown, the devs' misuse of the system, and @valvesoftware.com's brand-new hardware announcement.

youtu.be/sL5Wm5ABhuM

#Steam #Valve #Podcast #PCGaming

Steam Community :: Group :: Sentinels of the Store The Sentinels of the Store is a group founded on the core values of transparency, fairness, and consumer protection. Our journey began when we saw the urgent need to address the growing concerns withi...

Today, we're launching the @steamsentinels.bsky.social X @safeinourworld.org charity fundraiser.

Safe in Our World will be the charity we support in our first annual charity fundraiser.

Visit our article on Sentinels of the Store for full details: steamcommunity.com/groups/Senti...

Great news on the Sunyu situation: one of the users who was unfairly hit with a community ban has now had it overturned after reopening their ticket and presenting the evidence from @steamsentinels.bsky.social's forums of ban abuse.

Persistence works - this is why we’ve been tracking these cases.

Dominance & Damage Control | Steam Sentinels Podcast (Ep.6) YouTube video by Mellow Online1

Dominance and Damage Control - @steamsentinels.bsky.social Podcast (Ep.6)

This week, we’re breaking down @steampowered.com's monopoly, Aftermath Z: Red Pine Lake's censorship dispute, and a studio that accidentally revoked legit keys, trying to fight grey markets.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ooz...

SteamWatch - A Steam Meltdown Saga - Sunyu and Key Revocations In a piece I wrote a couple of days ago (which you may have missed because Steam’s automated systems temporarily flagged it), we discussed a growing problem: developers revoking legitimately purchased...

I’ve published a full breakdown of the Sunyu key-revocation meltdown - including archived posts, contradictions, and why innocent customers got caught in the crossfire.

One of the worst PR responses I’ve seen from an indie dev.

@steamsentinels.bsky.social

steamcommunity.com/groups/Senti...

SteamWatch - The Steam Key Revoking System is a Problem (V.2) :: Sentinels of the Store https://techraptor.net/gaming/guides/steamwatch-steam-key-revoking-system-is-problem Back in 2019, I wrote a TechRaptor piece warning that Steam’s key-revocation system was wide open to abuse - that b...

Multiple games have had legitimately purchased keys revoked in the last 2 days - and the developer responsible is deleting threads, banning users, and refusing to answer questions.

We’ve published our full findings.

steamcommunity.com/groups/Senti...

@steampowered.com @steamsentinels.bsky.social

What charity should the Steam Sentinels support for 2025? - StrawPoll What is your opinion? Vote now: Cancer Research - Cancer prevention, treatment, and research, Alzheimer's Society - Support and research for people affected by dementia, Crohn’s & Co

The @steamsentinels.bsky.social Charity Livestream 2025 is coming!

YOU choose which charity we’ll support!

Cast your vote here: strawpoll.com/e6Z2AR2v6gN

Voting closes Nov 9th!

More details here: steamcommunity.com/groups/Senti...

@cancerresearchuk.org @alzheimerssoc.bsky.social