Apex Legends™: Anti-Cheat

We recently committed to more transparent and consistent communication, and our next topic is a big one. 

You hate cheating and so do we. It harms your experience and Apex Legends as a whole. While we work daily to stamp it out and get ahead of the next exploit or cheating evolution, it’s worth noting that this battle will never end. 

We’ve been active in this fight, but we haven’t been as successful as we’ve needed to be. So we’re stepping things up in multiple areas, including aiming to deliver noticeable improvements over time to protect the integrity of our game. It may go without saying, but we can’t share every detail. We’ve got to keep some cards close to our chest to avoid tipping off those who would work against us.

HERE'S THE TLDR

• Current State:
  • More than 6 million accounts have been banned since launch
  • More than 100,000 accounts are banned each month on average
• Team Investments: we’ve expanded our anti-cheat team across the globe including additional 24/7 coverage and added dedicated talent in the particularly impacted Asia-Pacific region
• Tools & Technology:
  • Currently use a kernel-level anti-cheat service and multiple incremental layers of protection
  • We’ve improved our processes, rolled out additional capabilities, and are continuing to deploy new tools and technologies faster than ever

Current State

Apex is a high-skill, competitive experience which makes maintaining its integrity critical. Since its launch in 2019, we have banned more than 6 million accounts. That number will continue to grow as we average more than 100,000 bans monthly. We continue to regularly issue ban waves and also take individual actions in-between waves as needed.

We know from our monitoring, from you, and from our own play, that there is more work to do. As we move forward, we will do our best to provide updates with more posts on anti-cheat efforts and progress.

TEAM INVESTMENTS

Respawn employs a team of specialists that monitor game play and can take action against bad actors when needed. This can include (but isn’t limited to) recording prohibited behavior, muting those being problematic in chat (both text and audio), removing players mid-match, and/or issuing appropriate bans when applicable.

The human component to successful anti-cheat efforts is important. To help in that regard, we’ve expanded our team to improve 24/7 coverage and are now better equipped to monitor, quickly review, and take corrective actions on cheating reports. We’ve grown our anti-cheat team in targeted regions, like Asia-Pacific, that have been particularly hard-hit by global cheating activity.

TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY

Apex uses Easy Anti-Cheat (“EAC”)—a kernel level anti-cheat service that helps identify cheating activity and automates corrective actions. We also employ additional layers of protections designed to detect, disrupt, and disable cheating software. Some of these are industry standard, while others are developed here at Respawn and are specific to our needs.

We can’t share specifics on these tools, but they have improved our match review capabilities, and allow us to evaluate flagged instances faster and more effectively. We’re staffed and dedicated to deploying new tools and updates more quickly to help build strength and speed in the fight against cheating.

THANKS FOR YOUR REPORTS

Alongside our growing teams and better technology, each and every community report can help us get ahead. You’re in the thick of it after all. With our recent changes, we can act faster and make more of an impact in real-time. When you see cheating in Apex, please report it. In a future update, we hope to close the feedback loop and let you know what action we’ve taken more quickly.

• If you’re unable to report in-game, you can also report players via EA Help
• For concerns regarding game vulnerabilities or anti-cheat by-passes, report via our CVD program

The above are the official methods for reporting as they promote the inclusion of optimal details for the team to take action. Should more reporting channels become available in the future, we will share them.

OUR COMMITMENT TO YOU

We share your concerns about cheating in Apex, and it remains a top priority that we’re attacking every day. As we continue to make things better, we’ll be updating you regularly on this battle across our regular social platforms (including the new Game Status section on Trello). It’s worth reiterating that this is at its heart a security issue, so details may occasionally be limited.

Cheers again for your continued support and reports. It never ceases to amaze us how passionate y’all are and we appreciate it immensely.

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