Biomutant is an in-development project with a lot of potential. The open-world action RPG is being made by young studio Experiment 101, headed by ex-Avalanche Studios game director Stefan Ljungvist. Originally speculated to launch in 2020, Biomutant now appears slated to launch in 2021. Yet it seems that before Biomutant's release date arrives, it's getting a lot of attention for an unfortunate reason. It appears scammers are trying to use anticipation for Biomutant to defraud some fans/media.
Wednesday morning, THQ Nordic, Biomutant publisher and parent company of Experiment 101, issued a warning regarding reported fraud attempts. THQ Nordic posted on Twitter that Biomutant-related scam emails were being sent out this past week. These emails apparently linked to a website claiming to be related to Biomutant or THQ Nordic, but really directed to a phishing website which would presumably steal the users' info.
Further, THQ Nordic implies that these emails were potentially sent out to the media and/or influencers, too. A follow-up post on Twitter says that some emails may have claimed to include promised builds or files related to in-development games, which was of course complete nonsense. THQ Nordic makes clear that it will never send these types of emails. It also references the only official websites for THQ Nordic and Biomutant, so that fans can avoid phishing attempts.
These types of scams are unfortunately all too common in the video game industry. It goes both ways, too, with scammers trying to impersonate media and trying to get publisher info, and public relation specialists' emails and free games. That said, it's good of THQ Nordic to warn its fans about a new wave of scam emails. Biomutant fans will hopefully be better prepared should they get a fraudulent email, as they look forward to the action-RPG's upcoming launch.
Biomutant is in development for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.