What does this mean for speedrunning? Could we separate the categories to pre Prison update and Post Prison update? I am quite sure for solo runs you can download older versions of Phasmophobia and play on that, but I don't think you can connect with other people if you have older versions, need to test if it is possible for two people to be running the same old version and play with each other.

We have discussed this quite a bit on our discord server where we publish regular updates. Since you can't (legally) go back to older versions, we decided to delete runs that abused the glitch. That way, only runs that could not be replicated would be impacted; keeping the community fair and balanced. It's the unfortunate side-effect of running an early-access title: if we can exploit a game-breaking bug, then there is the chance it will be patched.

Ok, makes sense, I didn't know it was illegal to access older versions. Although steam did get rid of it recently, and the only way to get around the "failed" message is cheat engine, so makes sense.

although, as an example, pretty much all the fast Tanglewood runs use this, I don't know if you are planning to delete all of these, or what

Runs like that are still completely viable just by bringing the spirit box in as a third item and going for a specific ghost on a certain spawn.

It's bound to happen, and when it does you get WR. (or close to it)

Also, yes if the spirit box is used as evidence for a ghost in a speed run and the runners left the spirit box in the van... their run will be removed soon.

Alternatively, they can choose to remove it themself to help take the strain off of the verifiers to look through it if they know their run is now invalid.

It will make solo speedruns a bit more of a hassle, because before you could bring in Thermometer, UV, and Book, and use Spirit Box but leave it in the van. Basically it was a 4th item, so you could have the chance between multiple ghosts, but now if you bring in UV, Book, and Spirit Box, you need the ghost to be Spirit to have a decent chance. Obviously nothing can be done about this, the exploit is gone, and the runs will be removed soon, it is just a little sad.

Also, basically everyone's run at the very least turned the spirit box on at the van, because it was a free item. I'm guessing the question is do we want to keep runs that do this but the spirit box is never used because other evidence is used. Many runs are going to be purged regardless, as all the faster ones get spirit box right away, in the van.