Bethesda Acknowledges Personal Data Exposed In Latest Fallout 76 Stumble For The Publisher

Bethesda is facing yet another public image stumble. The Fallout 76 and Elder Scrolls publisher today acknowledged a data breach that resulted in personal data for more than 100 people potentially being exposed. However, no credit card or password details were compromised.

In a statement posted on Twitter, Bethesda admitted that its Customer Support website "experienced an error" on December 5 that resulted in Support tickets being able to be viewed by anyone. Bethesda says it pulled down the website immediately after it became aware of the issue. Those who could see the Support tickets of other players could only do so for 45 minutes.

Bethesda said fewer than 123 tickets were submitted during that "exposure window," as the publisher called it. These might have been "partially or fully viewed" during this time. Of the 123 tickets, no more than 65 of them contained personal data that might been exposed.

And again, Bethesda said no account passwords or full credit card numbers were visible. As for what was exposed, Bethesda said real names, user names, contact details like email addresses, physical mailing addresses, and phone numbers might have been exposed. Other publicly visible information included proof of purchase receipts, the kind that Bethesda asked people to provide request a canvas bag in the Fallout 76 fiasco.

This is just the latest piece of rough news for Bethesda. The studio's latest game, Fallout 76, had a rocky launch, and reviewers generally did not like the game. What's more, a law firm is investigating Bethesda over its Fallout 76 refund policy. Bethesda has acknowledged some "frustrating issues" surrounding the game and has committed to supporting it long-term. It has already laid out a roadmap of upcoming changes.