Codesmasters website hacked, user data stolen

Add another high-profile video game company to the list of recent victims of a network security breach.

United Kingdom-based developer Codemasters was targeted by hackers in a June 3 break-in that resulted in the theft of user names, addresses, phone numbers and other personal information stored in its database, the BBC reports.

Customers were notified of the breach nearly a week after it happened, once the company learned its website had been compromised.

The Codemasters website was also taken offline as soon as the facts became clear. The site will remain offline for “the foreseeable future,” the company says, with browsers now automatically redirecting to a Facebook page. The hackers made off with quite a bit of personal data but no specific payment information. Names, addresses (e-mail and physical), phone numbers, birthdays, passwords, IP addresses, Xbox Live gamer trags and bios. So… basically everything but payment details.

There’s been no indication of why hackers targeted the website, a Codemasters spokesperson told BBC News, or the specific number of users affected. The expectation though is that “tens of thousands” have had their personal information stolen. It’s only the latest such incident in a recent string of high-profile hacker attacks that started in April when Sony‘s servers were breached, leaving PlayStation Network and Qriocity users without access to their accounts for a full month.

Codemasters is known best nowadays for its work on various popular racing games, including the Colin McRae series, the F1 series and FUEL, as well as the Overlord and Operation Flashpoint games. It's been in the game business for a long time, however, notably having designed the popular NES cheat cartridge, the Game Genie.