Earlier today, Embark Studios announced a hotfix patch for Arc Raiders via the gameâs official Discord server. Ironically, the need for an emergency hotfix was due to Discord itself, as it was discovered that the Discord software development kit had somehow been storing âexcessive user informationâ on Arc Raidersâ server members.
That doesnât quite paint the full picture, however. The full reason behind the sudden need to patch Arc Raiders can be found on Timothy Meadowsâ website, in which he outlines âserious privacy and security violations that affect all players using Discord integration with the game.â
According to Meadowsâ report, the Arc Raiders Discord SDK opened âa complete Discord gateway connection identical to the one used by the Discord desktop app itself.â As a result, if you linked Arc Raiders and Discord together (via Arc Raidersâ in-game integration options), all Discord events that occurred were subsequently logged. This includes private DMs between two users. As Meadows explained, âRather than filtering sensitive events, the SDK logs everything it receives to disk.â
However, Embark Studiosâ Discord announcement states that none of this information actually made it off of usersâ PCs, as it was apparently only stored locally on the usersâ end. âRest assured that your private and/or personal data was not sent outside your machine and Embark has not (and will not) review or keep such information. We will disable the Discord SDK logging and are conducting a deeper audit to ensure no further issues. If you have questions or concerns, please contact our support team.â
Less than 30 minutes after Embark Studiosâ Discord announcement, the hotfix in question went live. According to GamesRadarâs Kaan Serin, they were able to confirm that the hotfix has fully resolved the issue. Still, call me an alarmist if you like, but I have to wonder if any other games have fallen prey to this oddly specific issue. Hopefully, Meadows has a lot of free time on his hands to check.
