25 Rust servers have been destroyed after a fire at a French datacenter

Rust developer Facepunch Studios says a "large amount" of save data has been lost after a fire at one of its datacentres.

In a recent tweet, the developer told players that 25 EU servers were offline after a fire broke out in the early hours of Wednesday morning at the OVH Datacentre in Strasbourg, France. One of the site's four server buildings was destroyed, another damaged, and a third required protection from firefighters. On-site staff were able to evacuate, and there have been no reports of injuries.

After informing players of the disruption caused by the fire and saying that it expected "a large amount of data loss," Facepunch confirmed "a total loss of the affected EU servers." The studio has been slowly bringing its European servers back online after seeking replacements, and OVH plans to restart its three remaining server buildings by March 19. 

While servers are on their way back up, however, Facepunch warned those affected that all of the data lost in the fire would be "unable to be restored," and that "all game progress is reset," essentially forcing a server wipe on players using the relevant servers.

It's unfortunate timing for Rust, which has seen its player count on the rise in recent weeks thanks to an influx of attention from major streamers. Elsewhere, Facepunch is set to launch Rust: Console Edition later this spring, seven years after its initial Steam early access release.

For more games that pit you against the elements, check out our list of the best survival games.