People Playground’s Steam Workshop Disabled Again as “Especially Bad” Malware Mod Targets Players

People Playground, the Steam sandbox title that lets players experiment with the torture and mishandling of innocent ragdoll crash-test dummies, has once again had its Steam Workshop shut down after a malicious mod was discovered peddling malware. The developer, Mestiez, confirmed the takedown on September 22nd and is urging anyone who ran the game with mods enabled on September 21st to immediately run anti-virus scans and refrain from launching the game until an official all-clear is posted. This incident marks the second malware attack of the year, renewing concerns among the community about the security of mod-driven sandbox experiences.

The developer’s warning came in the form of a Steam post published on the morning of September 22nd, in which Mestiez explained that the Workshop had been disabled “quite a few hours ago due to yet another malicious mod. This one is especially bad.” The scope of the threat is significant: according to Mestiez, the malware is capable of wiping “a considerable amount of your personal data,” vandalising Steam configuration files and cloud data for other games, and even publishing personal information harvested from a player’s Discord account directly to the Steam Workshop. The breadth of what the code can touch makes it a serious concern for anyone who has used the mod platform.

Urgent Cleanup Instructions for Affected Players

The developer has issued clear, time-boxed guidance for those who may have been exposed. Mestiez specifically flagged anyone who played People Playground with mods active between 6PM and 8PM CEST on September 21st — equivalent to 5PM and 7PM BST — as the window during which the infected mod was most likely active. Those players are being told to run an anti-virus scan and, crucially, to delete every mod from their mods folder before doing anything else.

“Delete all your mods in your mods folder and do not open the game until I’ve announced on Steam that it’s safe to do so,” Mestiez added.

Mestiez, People Playground developer

Initially, Mestiez reassured the community that the malware “DOES NOT steal your passwords, tokens, cookies, or other credentials.” However, the developer has since crossed that statement out entirely, signalling that the threat assessment has evolved. In its place, Mestiez is now advising players to change the passwords of all their important accounts in order to invalidate any session tokens that may have been captured during the attack. This reversal underscores how quickly the situation has escalated from a nuisance to a genuine security incident.

A Pattern of Repeated Attacks

The current episode is not an isolated blip. As reported by Kotaku, this is the second time in a year that People Playground has fallen victim to a malware-laden Steam Workshop mod. Back in February, a similar malicious mod tampered with affected players’ files, contraptions folders, and mod lists, prompting Mestiez to temporarily disable the Workshop — a move they have now repeated.

Despite the recurring nature of the problem, Mestiez has declined to speculate on the identity of the attacker. “This is entirely my responsibility, and we gain nothing from throwing around rumours or speculations,” they wrote. The developer’s refusal to name a suspect reflects both a desire to avoid defamation and a recognition that the burden of protection ultimately rests on their own shoulders.

Looking Ahead

The immediate priority is containment and verification. Mestiez will continue to monitor the situation and is expected to post an official announcement on Steam once the Workshop has been deemed safe to reopen. Until then, the game remains effectively locked down for modded players, and the developer has asked everyone to hold off on launching the title.

For the community, the repeated attacks have left a lingering sense of unease. As one observer put it, “Here’s hoping the game can be a lot more secure in future. I’d certainly be having second thoughts about going back to it once it’s fixed or especially resuming modding it if I was a regular ragdoll torturer.” The incident serves as a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities inherent in mod-driven platforms, where a single compromised upload can expose thousands of players to real-world harm. Whether People Playground can rebuild trust through stronger safeguards remains to be seen.