Respawn has announced that nearly 500,000 Apex Legends cheaters have been banned since the game’s launch on February 4. The news was tucked away in the Apex Legends 1.05 patch notes, but shows Respawn and EA’s commitment to weeding out those who look to get an unfair edge over fellow players.
“As I’m finishing the notes this morning, 499,937 accounts and counting have been banned for cheating,” Respawn community manager Jay Frechette states in the changelog for the newest Apex Legends update, with that number only likely to rise past the half-a-million milestone later on this week.
Reporting Apex Legends cheaters is now easier than ever, too. The PC version of the battle royale comes with a dedicated report function that automatically send info through to Easy Anti-Cheat. Consoles also come equipped with this feature, which allows you to report players you suspect of cheating either after you have died in the Spectate menu or through highlighting the player’s card in the Squad tab.
However, things aren’t all rosy. Not yet, anyway. Apex Legends cheaters are still getting away with speed hacking, which allows players to speed up their Legends to relentless levels, essentially making them unable to be hit during a match. Frechette says that anti-speed hacking measures are “not being as effective as intended due to a bug that we believe we’ve identified and will be addressing in our next server update,” though an ETA for the update has not been revealed.
Still, it’s a welcome move forward for a game that relies heavily on A) An honorable community and B) A safe and stable environment for players to enjoy battle royale in. Half a million cheaters have already bit the dust, with more potentially still to come. Here’s hoping that’ll put off many more willing to break the rules to become the Champion.