Game leaks insight to prevent accidental leaks like these from happening, Lee says that companies need to take the initiative and establish a well-constructed security mechanism for their products, such as an End User Licensing Agreement (EULA). “Game companies must demonstrate a clear and concise showing of prohibiting this type of behavior from its users or others,” he says.

Cooper points out how this is a modern day problem, as companies want to make the game data available for Early Access and beta testing. Prior to the widespread adoption of digital distribution, data mining wasn’t really a problem because consumers had to wait for the release of completed games on disks. As such, there were no risks of data mining.

He also adds that, nowadays, data mining isn’t generally an issue on platforms like PlayStation or Xbox: “The problem arises more on PC, where data files may be publicly exposed, often prior to the game’s official release. Thus, the only way to prevent data mining is for companies to refrain from prematurely releasing the data on PC.”