Banana devs push back against claims game is a scam

In recent weeks, a game simply titled ‘Banana’ has been topping the Steam charts and accruing hundreds of thousands of concurrent players. The game is simple, it shows a banana on the screen and all you do is click it as many times as you feel like. The game is clearly being used by bot farmers to try and cash out via the Steam marketplace. However, the developers behind Banana claim the title isn’t a ‘scam’.

On the game’s official Discord server, one of the co-owners of the studio said there is “no scamming” going on with Banana. In fact, the team apparently has plans to turn it into more than just a simple clicker game. “We cannot wait to turn this game into something bigger and better than just a clicker game. Please stay on the lookout as we have been and still are working on a large amount of updates to improve the game and let you all do much more with your bananas,” the developer wrote.

Currently, Banana is one of the top ten most played games in Steam’s history, which is quite an achievement for the biggest PC gaming platform. However, sleuths eventually discovered that one of the people involved in the game was previously involved in a Bitcoin scam, back when Steam allowed Bitcoin transactions on its store.

The game also has a known bot problem, something the developers are being open about. However, they have not yet figured out a way to put a stop to bot farms, which are using thousands of alternative accounts to try and earn skin drops in bulk. Those skins can then be sold on the Steam Marketplace. When a skin is sold on the Steam marketplace, Valve takes a cut, the seller takes a cut and the game developer also gets a cut, so there has been doubt around how motivated the team really is to address it.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Crypto scams have been prevalent for a long time now, and we've started to see some of those ideas applied in the world of video games. In recent years, some developers have announced games with fake trailers or images, built up hype around the project and then quickly shut down operations. Given how this game is being utilised as a Steam Market engine, I don't blame anyone for thinking that perhaps this little Banana clicker falls into a similar boat. 

Become a Patron!