Arc System Works announced that it will temporarily suspend all websites and web services it operates for additional maintenance related to PHP security updates.
All websites and web services are affected. The end time is undetermined.
This is an additional measure following PHP-related maintenance that began the previous day, October 22. The suspension applies to all websites and web services operated by Arc System Works, and the end time for the maintenance has not yet been determined.
The company notes that this will not affect online gameplay (such as multiplayer features and lobbies) in the main game. They state that they will provide further updates via the same account as the situation develops.
At 6:00 PM on October 22, the company also announced on its official X account that emergency maintenance was being conducted to address a PHP security issue, temporarily suspending the following official websites and the Players’ Guild:
"BLAZBLUE CENTRALFICTION" Players' Guild
"BLAZBLUE CROSS TAG BATTLE" Players' Guild
"GUILTY GEAR Xrd -SIGN-" Official Website
“GUILTY GEAR Xrd -REVELATOR-” Official Website
"GUILTY GEAR Xrd REV 2" Official Website
"GUILTY GEAR Xrd REV 2" Players' Guild
"GUILTY GEAR -STRIVE-" Players' Guild
"UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Late[cl-r]" Players' Guild
"Persona 4 The Ultimax: Ultra Suplex Hold" Players' Guild
Due to this additional maintenance, the scope of the outage appears to have expanded to include all of the company’s web-related services. In fact, as of this writing, the Arc System Works official website is inaccessible.
A critical vulnerability in “PHP” is behind this, prompting a series of responses across the gaming industry
The series of maintenance outages stems from critical vulnerabilities discovered in “PHP,” a programming language widely used in websites and online services.The PHP Group, responsible for the development and maintenance of PHP, disclosed the existence of two vulnerabilities on October 20; both were rated 9.2 on the “CVSS v4.0” severity scale. Patches were released on October 21.
In response, starting on the evening of October 21, many games and related services—including *Uma Musume: Pretty Derby* and *Granblue Fantasy*—underwent emergency maintenance.While many major titles were restored by the following day, October 22, some long-running titles—such as “World Quest” and “Save My Demon World!”—decided to shut down their services, citing the difficulty of addressing the vulnerabilities.
“Rage of Bahamut,” which has been running since 2011, requires a major update from its previous version, and the maintenance period is expected to exceed one week.
Additionally, while “Ace Combat 8” does not specifically mention PHP, the update scheduled for October 23 has been postponed in light of the response to system-related issues affecting the entire industry. The impact is spreading in various ways.
While online gameplay remains unaffected, it’s unfortunate that players cannot access the official website, which provides various updates. Let’s wait for further updates from Arc System Works’ official X account.
