The Steam achievements leak put unreleased games onto Exophase on September 9, with some entries showing numbers instead of names. GamesIndustry.biz reported that private achievement lists had surfaced following Steam maintenance. Exophase owner Mike Bendel said its automated tools could suddenly access them. Reports named Fable, Persona 6, and Kingdom Hearts 4 among the affected titles. The leaked Steam achievement lists also sparked guesses about unannounced projects. How much can those entries actually confirm? [1]
Steam Achievements Leak Follows Maintenance
GameDiscoverCo founder Simon Carless traced the exposure to Valve’s weekly maintenance window, according to GamesIndustry.biz. He said Valve had introduced an achievement bug that let automated collectors retrieve previously hidden data. Those collectors included Exophase and SteamDB, which gather achievement information. Valve had not confirmed that explanation in the reporting. The account of what went wrong came from Carless and the operator watching unexpected entries arrive. [1]
Bendel described the problem on ResetEra, posting under the name x3sphere. He said achievements that should remain private were accessible through Steam’s API (the interface software uses to request data). Exophase then scanned them automatically. Ordinarily, he said, games without actual names rarely appeared with achievements. During this incident, several had appeared within roughly an hour. When Exophase lacks a name, it displays the AppID (Steam’s numerical application identifier). That detail helps explain why some entries invited guesswork from the moment they appeared. Readers could see achievement information attached to a number, while the title behind that number remained unclear. The collection process itself supplied no official announcement to settle those guesses. [1, 3]
Bendel called it a Valve error rather than a data leak. His explanation concerned access to private achievements through an interface. [1]
The List Reaches Dozens of Games
Dexerto counted 85 games in its running list when it published its report. That figure describes the outlet’s tally at that point; Valve had not supplied a verified total. The coverage grouped familiar titles alongside unnamed entries and suspected projects. It also included achievements said to describe features, story developments, and Easter eggs. The Steam achievements leak therefore spread across several kinds of information at once. [2]
GamesIndustry.biz named Gears of War: E-Day, Ace Combat 8, and Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis among the affected games. Insider Gaming also listed Judas, Minecraft Dungeons 2, and Silent Hill: Townfall. The overlapping reports show which names circulated widely during the initial coverage. They do not establish that publishers checked each list, that every identification was correct, or that every achievement describes the final game. [1, 3]
PC Gamer explicitly treated the larger collection as unverified. Its report said some entries had no announced title or name in Steam’s backend (the systems behind the storefront). Insider Gaming described fans trying to identify placeholder entries through their contents. A recognizable reference can suggest a franchise, but the reports do not verify every proposed match. Who gets to attach a game’s name to an anonymous record? [3, 5]
Story Clues Arrive Before Confirmation
TheGamer reported that the alleged Kingdom Hearts 4 list could reveal Disney worlds, gameplay information, and story clues. It qualified that account: the list would need to be legitimate and current. PC Gamer likewise described fans interpreting achievements to work out possible worlds. Those interpretations remain conditional. Neither report supplies publisher confirmation that every detail matches the game players will eventually receive. [4, 5]
Persona 6 drew similar attention. PC Gamer described its purported achievements as containing plausible spoilers, while TheGamer said they suggested story details and mechanics. Both accounts concerned material circulating through the achievement trackers. For readers following either game, the immediate problem is practical. Opening an achievement list to check its authenticity can expose the very details they hoped to avoid. Even a disputed list can put a possible plot development in front of them. [4, 5]
TheGamer said achievement lists were already spreading through the GamingLeaksAndRumours community. Dexerto advised readers to consider muting game names on social media. This article omits the alleged story details, including the proposed Disney worlds. The Steam achievements leak can be explained without reproducing them. The uncertainty also extends beyond spoilers. Some readers used achievement descriptions to identify projects their supposed creators had never announced. One prominent guess quickly drew a direct response. [2, 4, 5]
Balatro Creator Rejects Sequel Rumor
A chess-based project prompted speculation about a Balatro follow-up, according to Dexerto. PC Gamer then published a correction after hearing from the game’s creator, LocalThunk. LocalThunk denied any affiliation between the project and either himself or Balatro. He said his current work was a substantial content update for the existing game. He attributed the resemblance to other developers borrowing its visual design language. [2, 5]
LocalThunk’s response rules out the specific connection that readers had proposed. It does not identify the chess project’s developer or establish what that game will become. Dexerto’s compilation still included an unannounced Balatro sequel or spinoff among the circulating claims, but its accompanying text carried the denial. Anyone reading only the list could miss that correction. The developer’s statement needs to travel with the rumor, especially when people copy individual entries elsewhere. [2, 5]
Insider Gaming also reported speculation about projects connected to Shrek, Dune, and Twin Peaks. Those names belong to the reported guesses surrounding the records. The proposed identities have not been independently verified in the available reporting. PC Gamer’s correction shows why an achievement list and a franchise resemblance cannot substitute for confirmation from the supposed creators. What other identifications will survive that check? [3, 5]
Valve Has Questions to Answer
GamesIndustry.biz and PC Gamer both said they had contacted Valve. Neither article included a response resolving the cause or validating the collection. Dexerto likewise reported no Valve statement at its publication point. The reported maintenance bug remains an attributed explanation. The available articles do not establish whether Valve has closed the access described by Bendel. A visible record alone cannot answer those operational questions. [1, 2, 5]
Valve’s response could clarify how private achievement information became accessible and which records the incident affected. Publishers would still need to address claims about their individual games. The Steam achievements leak does not provide a verified release schedule, and the reports leave individual lists’ currency unresolved. Readers tracking a particular title should check the source of subsequent coverage. Does it cite the developer, repeat the original record, or correct an earlier identification? [1, 5]
For now, readers who want to preserve story surprises can follow Dexerto’s suggestion to mute relevant game names. Avoid opening the circulating achievement lists if their contents matter more to you than checking each rumor. For the alleged Balatro connection, there is already a concrete correction to use. LocalThunk says the chess project has no affiliation with his game. Check for that denial before sharing an older version of the list. [2, 5]
- ONLINE NEWS McEvoy, S. (2026, September 9). Steam achievements for unreleased and unannounced games leak on aggregators such as Exophase and SteamDB. GamesIndustry.biz. [Article Link]
- ONLINE NEWS Bennett, C. (2026, September 9). Massive Steam leak reveals achievements and spoilers for over 80 unreleased games. Dexerto. [Article Link]
- ONLINE NEWS Taylor-Hill, G. (2026, September 9). Huge Steam leak reveals unannounced games and achievements. Insider Gaming. [Article Link]
- ONLINE NEWS Foster, G. (2026, September 9). Kingdom Hearts 4 and Persona 6 more achievements leaked through Steam. TheGamer. [Article Link]
- ONLINE NEWS Prescott, S. (2026, September 9). 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. PC Gamer. [Article Link]
