Steam may have leaked achievements for countless forthcoming PC games via a third party site, including Persona 6, Ace Combat 8, and even some unannounced games

Developed over time first seen 2 months ago

PC Gamer · 2 months ago

Steam appears to have inadvertently exposed achievement data for numerous unreleased and unannounced PC games through a third-party tracking site, with reports naming long-awaited titles such as Persona 6 and Ace Combat 8 among those affected. Several entirely unannounced projects were also reportedly included in the exposed data, raising the prospect that some publishers could face pressure to reveal games earlier than planned and prompting renewed scrutiny of how securely Steam handles pre-release information.

Such leaks typically arise because developers must upload achievement lists to Steam's backend well ahead of a game's release, and third-party sites that track this data can surface it before any official announcement is made. Since achievement names and descriptions can hint at a game's existence, platform or content, the affected studios were left to decide whether to address the leak directly or stick to their original marketing timelines, though no further official confirmation or response from Valve or the named publishers followed.

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In short

Steam reportedly leaked achievement data for unannounced PC games via a tracker site
Persona 6 and Ace Combat 8 said to be among titles named
Leak stems from early backend uploads of achievement lists before release

How this story developed

2 months ago Steam appears to have inadvertently exposed achievement data for numerous unreleased and unannounced PC games through a third-party tracking site, with the leak reportedly naming long-awaited titles such as Persona 6 and Ace Combat 8.
2 months ago Steam appears to have inadvertently exposed achievement data for a large number of unreleased and unannounced PC games through a third-party tracking site, with reports naming the long-awaited Persona 6 and Ace Combat 8 among the titles affected.
2 months ago Steam appears to have inadvertently exposed achievement data for numerous unreleased and unannounced PC games through a third-party tracking site, with reports naming long-awaited titles such as Persona 6 and Ace Combat 8 among those affected.
2 months ago Reports indicate that Steam has inadvertently exposed achievement data for a large number of unannounced or unreleased PC games via a third-party tracking site, with titles including the long-awaited Persona 6 and Ace Combat 8 reportedly among those affected.
2 months ago A report suggests that Steam has inadvertently exposed achievement lists for a large number of unreleased PC games through a third-party website, potentially revealing details about titles that publishers have not yet formally announced.

9 Sep, 10:13Rock Paper Shotgun Steam achievements for Persona 6, Fable, Stranger Than Heaven and a host of other upcoming PC games appear to have leaked
9 Sep, 12:14IGN Apparent Steam Leak Reveals Persona 6 and Kingdom Hearts 4 Achievements, Unannounced Games
9 Sep, 15:15PC Gamer Steam may have leaked achievements for countless forthcoming PC games via a third party site, including Persona 6, Ace Combat 8, and even some unannounced games
9 Sep, 15:15Destructoid Steam somehow leaked a massive number of spoiler-filled achievements for dozens of upcoming games, including unannounced ones

Full account

Achievement lists for a large number of unreleased and even unannounced PC games appear to have been exposed via Steam's back-end, after the data turned up on the third-party trophy-tracking website Exophase. The site, which routinely catalogues achievements pulled from Steam's public API, seems to have scanned in entries for titles that publishers had not intended to make visible, raising the prospect of a significant, if inadvertent, leak covering dozens of forthcoming releases.

Among the games said to be affected are Atlus's long-awaited Persona 6, Bandai Namco's Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, and Ryu Ga Gotoku's brawler Stranger Than Heaven, alongside a remaster of the classic stealth title Thief: The Dark Project. Other high-profile entries reportedly swept up in the exposure include Control Resonant, Silent Hill: Townfall, Kingdom Hearts 4, Mega Man: Dual Override, the driving game Clutch, the revived Fable, and Ken Levine's long-in-development Judas. The Japanese gaming outlet Gematsu is understood to have pulled together a running list of the titles whose achievement data surfaced. Notably, some entries appeared without any game name attached at all, listed only by their numerical Steam AppID, hinting that unannounced projects may also have been caught up in the exposure.

Mike Bendel, who runs Exophase under the handle x3sphere, addressed the situation in a post on the forum ResetEra, suggesting the cause lay with Valve rather than his own site. He indicated that achievement sets which should have remained private were, for a period, openly reachable through Steam's API, allowing them to be automatically catalogued by Exophase's scanning tools. Bendel noted that it was unusual to see so many nameless, AppID-only entries acquire achievement data within such a short window, reinforcing his suspicion that this was a temporary lapse in Valve's access controls rather than a deliberate disclosure by any developer.

Anyone browsing the leaked lists has been warned they risk running into significant spoilers, particularly for narrative-driven titles such as Persona 6, Kingdom Hearts 4 and Mega Man: Dual Override, though even a racing game like Clutch was said to carry revealing achievement names. Coverage of the leak also dwelt on some of the more colourful details uncovered, including a Fable achievement wryly titled "Cost of Living Crisis", a solitary trophy in Judas tied to reaching ten kills, and an achievement in Stranger Than Heaven for smoking twenty or more hand-rolled cigarettes. Neither Valve nor the developers of the affected games had issued any public comment on the apparent leak at the time of reporting.

Where outlets differ

From the full account, which is AI-written from the sources:

Only one of the two supplied sources contained usable article text; the PC Gamer piece (Source 1) returned solely site navigation and membership-banner boilerplate, so direct comparison of its framing or additional detail was not possible beyond its headline, which matches the one given.

The available detailed source leans into a light, irreverent tone — dwelling on jokey achievement names (e.g. Fable's 'Cost of Living Crisis', the cigarette-themed trophy in Stranger Than Heaven) — whereas the headline from the other outlet frames the story more soberly as a leak of note affecting 'countless' games.

The detailed source attributes the explanation directly to Exophase's owner via a ResetEra post, describing it as a probable Valve-side API error, while it's unclear whether the other outlet sourced the same explanation or offered its own reporting angle.

Steelman: both sides, in good faith

The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.

The case for

Those concerned by the exposure argue that game publishers have legitimate commercial and creative reasons to control when they announce their projects, and that Valve, as the platform host, should implement technical safeguards to prevent third parties from accessing pre-release data. They view the leak of entirely unannounced games as particularly troubling, as it can force studios to make public disclosure decisions under external pressure rather than following their own strategic timelines. This undermines publisher autonomy and represents a situation that Valve could better manage through improved access controls.

The case against

Those sceptical of treating this as a serious breach argue that the exposure reflects a technical reality rather than a security failure—developers must upload achievement data to Steam's systems in advance—and that third-party discovery of this information does not constitute an unauthorised breach. They point out that publishers retain complete control over when to announce, regardless of what information circulates online, and that expecting Valve to permanently obscure all backend data sets an unrealistic standard. The responsibility for managing disclosure belongs with studios themselves, who could announce at any time rather than allowing external leaks to dictate their schedule.

Explained simply

Reports have emerged that Steam, the popular PC games storefront and platform, has accidentally exposed achievement lists for a wide range of unreleased titles. This happened via a third-party website that tracks Steam's backend data, information developers must upload ahead of a game's launch so that in-game achievements work correctly once it goes live.

Among the games reportedly affected are Persona 6, the next instalment in Atlus's long-running role-playing series, and Ace Combat 8, a sequel in Bandai Namco's combat flight simulation franchise. The leak is also said to include references to games that have not been officially announced at all, meaning some studios could now face pressure to confirm or address projects before they were ready to reveal them.

The situation matters because it highlights how pre-release information can slip out through platform infrastructure rather than deliberate announcements, potentially disrupting marketing plans for publishers and fuelling speculation among players about titles that have yet to be confirmed.

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