It’s only been a month since Apex Legends launched, and following some huge success and overwhelming support from the gaming community, developers at Respawn Entertainment are now tackling their first major hurdle: cheaters.
Apex Legends is a first-person shooter battle royale game that is played exclusively online. With 60 players going all out in every match, the potential damage that even one cheater could cause is detrimental to the overall gaming experience that Apex Legends offers. That said, Respawn Entertainment isn’t taking the situation lightly. According to a public service announcement from Respawn, over 350,000 cheaters have been banned from the game since it launched.
Apex Legends uses the Easy-Anti-Cheat system to prevent hackers and bots from ruining the game for everyone, but there’s definitely more than a few loopholes that hackers still manage to exploit. Respawn has commented that “The service works, but the fight against cheaters is an ongoing war,” and any experienced online gamer would agree. Hackers and cheaters are always developing new ways to take advantage of games, so Respawn has their work cut out for them. Recently, the developer has announced that a Report feature is coming soon on PC. This way, Respawn can enlist the aid of law-abiding players to track down cheaters and slam the ban-hammer down on their accounts. Respawn will dedicate more resources towards its anti-cheater efforts, and has for some time now been reaching out to experts on the subject both within and outside of EA.
Player.One has been playing Apex Legends since its surprise launch last month, and we’re definitely no stranger to game-ruining bots and cheaters. In fact, the worst experience so far might have been more than half of the 60-man roster turning out to be bots and dropping out before the jump. We have been actively following Respawn Entertainment’s response to the situation, and we’re more than glad to see numbers like this. A little over a week after Apex Legends’ Feb 5 launch, Respawn reported having banned over 16,000 cheaters from the game. Now, those numbers are up to over 350,000. There’s still quite a few bad eggs that get past their Easy-Anti-Cheat system, but if the developer keeps the ban-hammer coming down on hackers and bots, then we’re confident cheaters will not be too much of a problem soon.
We’d like to know what our fellow Legends think about this development. Have you ever experienced cheaters or bots in your Apex matches? What do you think Respawn should do to quell the number of cheaters in the game? Tell us about your own experiences or how you feel about Respawn’s anti-cheating efforts in the comments section below!
