Rust developer warns "large amount of data" lost in devastating server blaze

UPDATE 1.30pm UK: Rust developer Facepunch has released a fresh update on the game's EU servers following last night's devastating fire - and it's bad news.

"We've confirmed a total loss of the affected EU servers during the OVH data centre fire," Facepunch wrote. "We're now exploring replacing the affected servers. Data will be unable to be restored."

Earlier today, Facepunch said 25 EU servers had been lost. In general, Rust wipes player progress every month, but it's unclear how many of these servers hosted community-run servers with their own rules.

Data from Steam Charts shows overall player numbers are holding steady despite the EU server losses, though the fire occurred during the early hours of today here in Europe, and Rust's player numbers generally peak in the early evening.

ORIGINAL STORY 11.30am UK: Rust developer Facepunch has issued a sombre warning that large amounts of player data have been lost, following a serious fire which destroyed many of the game's EU servers.

25 of the hit Steam survival game's EU servers are now offline following a blaze at the OVH Datacenter in Strasbourg. The incident has destroyed one of the facility's buildings and damaged at least one other.

All staff were able to evacuate, and no injuries were reported.

"We're expecting a large amount of data loss across the affected servers," Facepunch wrote on Rust's Twitter. "We'll share more news when we can."

"Firefighters were immediately on the scene but could not control the fire in SBG2," Octave Klaba, boss of cloud server company OVH, said this morning. "The whole site has been isolated which impacts all services in SGB1-4. We recommend to activate your Disaster Recovery Plan."

Microsoft cybersecurity analyst Kevin Beaumont shared the following footage of the building before and after the fire:

Here?s what it looked like pre-burn, it was a SOC 2 (etc) certified DC. pic.twitter.com/w9DZCE4loV

— Kevin Beaumont (@GossiTheDog) March 10, 2021

First released back in 2013, Rust recently blew up again on Steam thanks to high-profile streamers playing together on a private - and now possibly dead - server.

Rust's delayed console version is also now back on the horizon, with a closed beta this month.