FFXIV Director Threatens Lawsuit Over 'Stalking' Mod

In early 2025, a Final Fantasy XIV mod ignited concerns about player stalking after reports surfaced that it harvested sensitive player data. This included character details, retainer information, linked alternate characters, and more.

The mod, "Playerscope," tracked players' data within its vicinity, sending this information to a central database controlled by the mod's creator. This encompassed data typically inaccessible through in-game tools, raising significant privacy concerns. Specifically, it exploited the "Content ID" and "Account ID" systems introduced in the Dawntrail expansion, enabling cross-character tracking via the account blacklist feature.

Opting out required joining the Playerscope Discord; theoretically, every player outside this Discord had their data scraped. The community reacted strongly, with one Reddit commenter stating the mod's purpose was "to stalk people."

Weeks ago, the mod's author announced its presence on GitHub, leading to a surge in popularity. Following terms of service violations, it was removed from GitHub, though alleged mirroring on Gittea and Gitflic was later confirmed by IGN to be false. However, the mod might still circulate privately.

Naoki "Yoshi-P" Yoshida, Final Fantasy XIV's producer and director, addressed the situation on the game's official forums, referencing Playerscope directly. His statement acknowledged the existence of third-party tools accessing normally hidden character information, including internal account IDs used to link characters on the same service account. Yoshida stated that the development and operations teams are considering requesting removal, and pursuing legal action. He reassured players that account details like addresses and payment information were inaccessible via these tools. He urged players to avoid using third-party tools and not to assist in their distribution, citing the User Agreement and potential safety risks.

While third-party tools like Advanced Combat Tracker are commonly used by the raiding community (often with websites like FFlogs), Yoshida's legal threat represents a significant escalation.

The FFXIV Community Responds

The community's response to Yoshida's statement was critical. One user commented on the lack of consideration for fixing the game's vulnerabilities to prevent such mods. Others questioned why Square Enix couldn't address the root cause of the data exposure on the client-side, suggesting it was a matter of resource allocation rather than technical impossibility. A further criticism highlighted the statement's failure to address the core issue. The Playerscope author has yet to comment.