I set up a separate gaming rig specifically to isolate these kinds of problems. That's where I run all my games and nothing else. You'd think it'd be more exp

I set up a separate gaming rig specifically to isolate these kinds of problems. That's where I run all my games and nothing else. You'd think it'd be more expensive to have another machine specifically for gaming. But the slowing of CPU advancements means that old systems can be usefully repurposed. I grabbed the husk of an older desktop from a few years ago, its CPU and memory being more than enough for gaming. Threw my GPU over to it (not needed for work or personal desktop usage), and I had a dedicated gaming rig for "free". Now I don't worry about scummy studios releasing malware masquerading as games. For those more technically inclined, you can do a gaming VM. That used to be my setup prior to having a separate machine. GPU passthrough allows you to give your GPU to the VM. I had it running under Ubuntu, with Windows as the guest. Near identical performance. That was a cool setup, but kept breaking on OS updates so I decided to just use a separate physical machine. But these are ultimately just defenses and are no excuse for knowingly running malware. Gamers should make it a point not to buy games or other software that plays loose with their privacy. These studios should be ashamed of themselves. But it's impossible to always know ahead of time what horrors lie within your software. So at least I sleep better at night knowing these "games" at least have their own cesspool to writhe around in.