Apex Legends has become a sensation in just a handful of weeks, with millions of players shooting it out at any given time.
But while it’s had an overwhelmingly positive reception from the gaming community, it’s not perfect, and developers are having to crack down on the one thing that plagues so many online shooters: cheating.
In fact, with so many players, devs are having to bring the ban hammer down on almost 1,000 players every single day since the game’s launch, with over 16,000 banned already according to a developer update on Reddit.
So, why are there so many cheaters to contend with?
First, the sheer number of players in the game is the main reason for the high numbers of people using aimbots or wall hacks – 16,000 is, after all, a pretty small percentage of the 25 million who have already played Apex Legends.
But as EGM reports, the bigger issue is the slightly-creaky Source engine that underpins the game. Being an older foundation, cheaters have had plenty of time to discover its vulnerabilities and develop ways to break it open.
Thankfully, the developers also addressed the lack of a reporting function in-game to weed out toxic players, something that will be very welcome as the community evolves. Until then, they ask us to keep reporting cheaters the old fashioned way, and try to capture evidence if you can.
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“As of today over 16,000 cheaters have been identified and banned from the game,” they write. “Cheaters suck. If you run into one, please try and capture the evidence and let us know here.
“Even if you don’t get proof, get their ID and flag it and we can investigate the account. We have heard your feedback about a report feature in the game. I’ll just say that’s a very good idea.”
Even without a report function, it’s reassuring that the devs are there watching over each and every skirmish to weed out the cheaters and make the contests fair for everyone – except, maybe, those of us who die with nothing but a Mozambique in hand.
Watch the official Apex Legends launch trailer:
