Goddess of Victory: Nikke, a gacha shooter/RPG developed by Stellar Blade makers Shift Up, has suffered a “security incident” which has seen its PC launcher potentially be infected with third-party malware. Thankfully, it seems a patch to make the launcher safe again has been quickly dished out, but publishers Level Infinite are still advising players who’ve booted the game up since September 27th to do some security checks.
“We have identified that some files in the NIKKE Windows PC launcher were recently tampered with by a third party, potentially allowing malicious programs to run when the launcher was launched,” the developers of the game with anime girls who – judging by the promo art – breast boobily announced yesterday. “As a result, your PCs and account information may have been exposed to security risks.
“We are continuing to investigate the extent of the potential damage and review appropriate response measures. We are also conducting a thorough review of our network security environment, including our CDN, to determine how the PC launcher files were compromised. We will take all necessary precautions to prevent further damage and ensure that this issue does not happen again. We deeply regret that this security incident has caused Commanders significant concern and distress, when our responsibility should have been to provide a safe gaming environment.”
In order to try and help players “scan for and remove the malicious programs distributed in this incident”, publishers Level Infinite have added a feature to Nikke’s official PC client that does just that. They’re advising that anyone who’s booted up the game at least once after September 27th at 15:41 (UTC+9) use that or perform a manual security check.
Once that’s done, affected players are advised to change the passwords for any accounts they’ve used on the PC they used to boot the launcher, as well as generate new API keys and access tokens. “We take very seriously the possibility that this incident may have affected not only your gaming experience but also your PC, accounts with external services, and personal assets,” Level Infinite added. “If you believe you may have been affected by this issue or suffered from any loss, please contact our customer support team. We will review each inquiry carefully and respond as promptly as possible.”
Going forwards, they plan to improve their monitoring “so that any unauthorized file modifications or security threats can be detected early and addressed promptly”, as well as “establish an integrity verification system for external resources accessed by the PC launcher” and ensure the launcher only requires “the minimum permissions necessary”.
Here’s hoping the studio are able to keep things more secure in the future and that affected players are able to get rid of any malware with minimal suffering or inconvenience.