Yoshi-P Threatens Legal Action Over 'Stalking' Mod in Final Fantasy 14

In early 2025, a controversial mod named "Playerscope" for Final Fantasy 14 raised significant privacy concerns by reportedly scraping hidden player data, such as character details, retainer information, and linked alternate characters on a Square Enix account. This mod enables users to track specific player data of anyone in their vicinity, sending this information to a centralized database managed by the mod author. This tracking occurs regardless of whether the user is actively looking at a specific player or simply near other players, revealing information not typically accessible through in-game tools.

Playerscope exploits the "Content ID" and "Account ID" systems introduced in the Dawntrail expansion, allowing players to track others across different characters. The only way to opt out of this data scraping is by joining the mod's private Discord channel and requesting to be excluded. This means that any Final Fantasy 14 player not in the Discord channel is potentially having their data collected, posing a substantial privacy risk. The community has been vocal about this issue, with one Reddit user stating, "the purpose is obvious, to stalk people."

The mod gained popularity after being discovered on Github, leading to its eventual removal due to violations of the platform's terms of service. Although it was mirrored on Gittea and Gitflic, IGN confirmed that the repository no longer exists on these alternative platforms. However, there's a possibility that the mod continues to circulate within private communities.

Final Fantasy 14's producer and director, Naoki 'Yoshi-P' Yoshida, addressed the issue on the game's official forum, indirectly referencing Playerscope. Yoshida's statement highlighted the use of third-party tools to access character information not visible during normal gameplay. He emphasized that the development and operations teams are considering requesting the removal of the tool and pursuing legal action. Yoshida reassured players that personal information such as addresses and payment details registered on Square Enix accounts cannot be accessed using these tools.

Yoshida stressed the importance of maintaining a safe gaming environment and urged players to refrain from using or sharing information about third-party tools. He noted that such tools are prohibited under the Final Fantasy 14 User Agreement and could jeopardize player safety. While tools like Advanced Combat Tracker are commonly used by the raiding community and referenced on sites like FFlogs, Yoshida's legal threat marks a significant escalation in the game's stance against third-party mods.

The Final Fantasy 14 community has reacted strongly to Yoshida's statement. One user criticized the lack of action to fix the game and prevent such mods, saying, "fixing the game to break the mod isn’t on the list of options they’re considering I see." Another suggested addressing the root cause by improving client-side data security, stating, "or you could just see how not to expose the information on [the player’s] client side. Of course, this means extra work which they did not plan for, but is Final Fantasy 14 really on such a tight schedule and budget they can't deal with these things properly?" A third user expressed disappointment, noting, "kind of a disappointing statement that really fails to acknowledge the root cause of the problem." The author of Playerscope has yet to respond to these developments.