Apex Legends Gives Cheaters A Taste Of Their Own Medicine

Most popular, competitive games will have some degree of cheating, and if the title in question is a free-to-play one, the problem can become rampant. That's certainly been the case in Apex Legends, but as Respawn Entertainment fights its unending war against cheaters and cheat makers, it's been keeping us abreast of its efforts. As it turns out, Respawn has been giving cheaters a taste of their own medicine when they queue up for games.

In a recent developer check-in, Respawn says that one way it's been keeping cheaters from ruining public games is by matching them with other cheaters and spammers. To some, that might not be as preferable as banning them outright, but we doubt anyone who's playing the game legitimately will shed a tear for cheaters who are forced to play with other cheaters.

As Respawn explained in that developer check-in, there are other things it's doing to combat cheating in Apex Legends. The company has employed machine learning to create behavior models on cheaters that will help it automatically detect and ban offending players. It's also started requiring two-factor authentication for high-risk accounts in certain regions.

Part of the reason why the war against cheating is something that can never be won is because cheat makers are constantly working on new ways to skirt the rules, and Respawn says that continuously working to adapt to new cheats is part of its strategy. It's also been looking into how to people party up for additional insight, noting that even if a player doesn't have cheats running on their machine, they're still guilty of cheating themselves when they party up with cheaters.

Of course, Respawn can only get so much done on its own, so it ends that section by reminding players that they can report suspected cheaters using the Report a Cheat form on the Apex Legends website. While the war might never be totally won, it is nice to know that somewhere out there, a cheater is raging at the fact that they were killed by another cheater. Perhaps there is justice in the universe after all.