Home Gaming Apex Legends cheaters are being banned at the hardware level

Apex Legends cheaters are being banned at the hardware level

1 min read
30
BanGalore

I despise cheating in games. Actually, let me clarify that a bit. I have no problem with cheating in video games, if you’re cheating in a single player one and want to tailor an experience to your needs or wants. If you want infinite health or unlimited ammo to take the edge off of mowing down nazis/robots/aliens at the end of a gruelling day, then power to you.

What I really don’t like is people who cheat in multiplayer games, ruining the experience for other people. Those people are scumbags, and it seems they’ve just been given another swing of the banhammer in Respawn’s Apex Legends. Last month, Respawn community manager Jay Frechette said that the company had waged a secret war on cheaters.

“We are reaching out and working directly with experts, both within and outside of EA, in this area that we can learn from. Scaling up our anti-cheat team so we have more dedicated resources. We are adding a report feature on PC to report cheaters in game that goes directly to Easy-Anti-Cheat. We’re keeping a lot of our strategy close to the chest so offenders don’t have time to build workarounds before we implement changes.”

It looks like that strategy is becoming clearer, and the most recent spate of bans have denied access to cheaters on a hardware level. The Hardware ID (HWID) code is unique to each to PC, and the most egregious Apex Legends cheaters have had theirs banned.

banned

It means that IP changes and new accounts won’t (new accounts are insta-banned) let these scumbags back in the game, meaning that their only recourse is to buy a new computer. That becomes an expensive exercise when your only real goal is to be a dick to others in an online video game. Of course, there are ways to spoof the HWID through flashing the firmware on or replacing bits of hardware, but it’s a lot more technical than running a simple, paid-for cheating program.

Last Updated: April 8, 2019

30 Comments

  1. Quentin Huggett

    April 8, 2019 at 09:30

    Had ones last night in Apex. He/she/ze/furkind had 15k kills….. seems they taking a while to find them and ban them.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief

      April 8, 2019 at 09:55

      Furkind, haha

      Reply

    • Geoffrey Tim

      April 8, 2019 at 09:38

      Keep using the reporting tools whenever you encounter these shitheads.

      Reply

  2. Original Heretic

    April 8, 2019 at 09:38

    U “despite” cheating?

    Reply

    • Geoffrey Tim

      April 8, 2019 at 09:46

      Thanks, fixed. MONDAYS EH?

      Reply

      • Original Heretic

        April 8, 2019 at 09:55

        Yeah, I absolutely despite them.

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief

          April 8, 2019 at 09:55

          Almost spat out my coffee, good man

          Reply

          • Raptor Rants

            April 8, 2019 at 10:12

            Despise the fact that it’s Monday, I absolutely despite cheaters.

        • Geoffrey Tim

          April 8, 2019 at 10:29

          I love/hate this and I love/hate you.

          Reply

        • Pariah

          April 8, 2019 at 09:55

          Actually lol’ed. XD

          Reply

          • Admiral Chief

            April 8, 2019 at 10:03

            Same

        • Admiral Chief

          April 8, 2019 at 12:09

          HAH

          Reply

  3. Admiral Chief

    April 8, 2019 at 09:55

    I love this news. Now, as an added measure, it should also include force-feedback-nuttshot to the offending creature

    Reply

  4. Raptor Rants

    April 8, 2019 at 10:12

    Stop….. It’s BAN HAMMER time!

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief

      April 8, 2019 at 10:12

      HALT

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief

        April 8, 2019 at 10:12

        HAMMERZEIT

        Reply

  5. HvR

    April 8, 2019 at 10:21

    Can be changed by changing kernel registries; so guess there might be paid for registry changers on the “black” market soon.

    Although as you said still PITA to change since you will need to re-activate OS and probably few other software services. Also giving access to dodgy programs you are very likely to burn your fingers at some point loading and activating malware or ransomware that will almost be impossible to remove.

    We will probably also see dirty cheaters starting to use VMs from now on

    Reply

  6. GooseZA

    April 8, 2019 at 09:29

    Good.

    Reply

  7. Pariah

    April 8, 2019 at 09:46

    This is next level. Heh, awesome.

    Reply

  8. Admiral Chief

    April 8, 2019 at 09:46

    CAN I GET A HALLELUJAH???

    Reply

    • Pariah

      April 8, 2019 at 09:55

      No. No you can’t. But I’ll cheer this shit on with you if you’d like?

      Reply

  9. Skyblue

    April 8, 2019 at 10:12

    That should put a dent in second hand PC sales no?

    Reply

  10. HvR

    April 8, 2019 at 10:21

    Can be changed by changing kernel registries; so guess there might be paid for registry changers on the “black” market soon.

    Although as you said still PITA to change since you will need to re-activate OS and probably few other software services. Also giving access to dodgy programs you are very likely to burn your fingers at some point loading and activating malware or ransomware that will almost be impossible to remove.

    We will probably also see dirty cheaters starting to use VMs from now on

    Reply

    • Silver

      April 8, 2019 at 19:58

      Get rekt cheaters

      Reply

  11. Grid10ck

    April 8, 2019 at 10:21

    Good to see this, now can they get there netcode sorted.
    https://www.pcgamer.com/apex-legends-tick-rate/

    Reply

  12. Mornay Heydenrych

    April 8, 2019 at 15:58

    BLIZZARD should do the same with Overwatch cheaters!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Check Also

Apex Legends Mobile will Launch in Ten Countries Next Week

EA and respawn’s Apex Legends will make its debut on mobile devices very soon. The game wi…