In early 2025, a Final Fantasy 14 mod named "Playerscope" raised significant privacy concerns within the gaming community due to its ability to scrape hidden player data. This mod allowed users to track specific player information, including character details, retainer information, and any alternate characters linked to a Square Enix account, by sending this data to a centralized database managed by the mod's author.
Playerscope exploited the Content ID system introduced in the Dawntrail expansion, which enabled tracking players across different characters using "Content ID" and "Account ID." The only way to opt out of this data scraping was by joining a private Discord channel and requesting exclusion, leaving all other players vulnerable to having their data collected.
The mod gained notoriety after its code was discovered on Github, leading to a surge in its usage. However, due to violations of terms of service, Playerscope was removed from Github and its mirrors on Gittea and Gitflic. Despite this, the mod could still be circulating within private communities.
In response to these concerns, Final Fantasy 14's producer and director, Naoki 'Yoshi-P' Yoshida, issued a statement on the game's official forum. He confirmed the existence of third-party tools like Playerscope that access hidden character information and stated that the development and operations teams are considering requesting the tool's removal and pursuing legal action. Yoshida emphasized that while personal information like addresses and payment details cannot be accessed by these tools, the use of third-party tools is prohibited under the Final Fantasy 14 User Agreement and poses a safety risk to players.
The Final Fantasy 14 community has reacted strongly to Yoshida's statement, with many expressing frustration over the lack of a plan to address the root cause of the issue. Some suggested that the game should be updated to prevent the exposure of sensitive information, while others criticized the statement for not offering a more comprehensive solution.
The author of Playerscope has not yet responded to these developments.
