{"id":1607297,"date":"2026-06-15T11:40:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T11:40:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hXiZxT3D9e9Fa7ZiaSwtRR"},"modified":"2026-06-15T11:40:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T11:40:29","slug":"steams-second-most-played-game-right-now-is-reportedly-a-bot-filled-marketplace-that-can-get-you-banned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/steams-second-most-played-game-right-now-is-reportedly-a-bot-filled-marketplace-that-can-get-you-banned\/","title":{"rendered":"Steam’s second most-played game right now is reportedly a bot-filled marketplace that can get you banned"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If you check in with Steam’s<\/a> player population data as much as I do, then you’ll know it’s pretty common to see an idle game towards the top. Bongo Cat<\/a> has been sitting up there for basically a year. Banana<\/a> holds the title of tenth-highest all-time concurrent player peak on Steam.<\/p>\n

Out with the old, and in with the new, as Task Bar Hero launched at the end of May and reached a height of roughly 450,000 concurrent players overnight. Just this weekend, it hit a new all-time peak of 526,596 concurrent players. That puts it below Counter-Strike 2<\/a>, but above the likes of Dota 2<\/a>, PUBG<\/a>, and Path of Exile 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’m partial to an idle game (Ropuka’s Idle Island<\/a>, mainly), but I was sceptical of how a taskbar idle RPG would spread like wildfire. Turns out, the items you’re passively earning can be sold on the Steam marketplace, similar to Banana’s banana JPEGs. From a quick parse of the listings, most items are pretty worthless, but there are a few weapons and armour ‘worth’ anywhere from \u00a350 to \u00a3150. There’s currently also a legendary bow that someone’s hoping to sell for \u00a31,183.16. <\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Steam)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The point is, it’s almost certainly a bot farm flogging massively inflated items and gaming the economy. For those who weren’t paying attention to the banana-clicking sensation of 2024, Banana became controversial over concerns about botting and marketplace trading<\/a>. I suspect this will follow the same trajectory, if that ship’s not already sailing.<\/p>\n

The reviews so far don’t help the optics. It’s currently sitting at a 48% positive, mixed rating, with lots of players calling out the supposed bot farming and various game-breaking bugs\u2014including valuable items just disappearing.<\/p>\n

The real kicker is that it’s reportedly the culprit for false flag bans, which will show on your Steam profile. Because it’s an idle game that lives on your taskbar, you’ll naturally open other programmes while it weasels away in the background. This can apparently trigger the game’s anti-cheat system and put a mark on your account\u2014a system that only exists in a single-player idle game thanks to the marketplace trading.<\/p>\n

“Wish I had read this sooner. They tarnished my profile for no reason whatsoever,” one (I’d assume ex-) player wrote<\/a> in a post on Reddit.<\/p>\n

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