If on October 21st you tried checking your anime list, saving an illustration, or accessing your favorite game and encountered an error screen, you weren’t alone. Within hours, several key platforms and video games in the community went into simultaneous emergency maintenance, leaving millions of users disconnected and sparking panic on social media.

The chaos began when services like Pokémon Sleep, Pokémon HOME, and Pokémon Champions suspended operations without warning. Around the same time, Cygames had to shut down servers for Uma Musume: Pretty Derby, Granblue Fantasy, Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond, and Princess Connect! Re:Dive. The measure quickly expanded to arcade titles like CHUNITHM and online functions for Nintendo Switch, making the day uncertain for gamers.

The issue wasn’t limited to gaming. Popular fan websites also hit the emergency button. Tracking platforms like AniList and MyAnimeList shut down systems to assess risk and install security patches, temporarily disabling key tools like image uploads. Meanwhile, Japanese giant Pixiv suspended access to its main portal, encyclopedia, and FANBOX service overnight, joining similar measures by Niconico and other Japanese entertainment sites.

Despite the scare and mass disconnection, the involved companies clarified that no personal data leaks or direct account attacks have been detected so far. The decision to shut everything down was strictly preventive to protect databases before any attacker could exploit the situation.

The cause of this massive outage stems from two critical vulnerabilities found in the PHP programming language, identified as CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619. This technology manages servers, logins, and databases for countless websites and online services worldwide.

Rated a dangerous 9.2 out of 10 in severity, these flaws allow malicious users to execute unauthorized commands remotely on vulnerable servers. With no quick temporary fix beyond updating the code to its latest versions, developers and administrators had no choice but to take servers offline to apply official fixes as soon as possible.

Did you experience the outage of one of your favorite games or websites during this massive blackout?