Respawn says Apex Legends anti-cheat measures are working and stronger systems are on the way

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Nearly 800,000 players have been banned

Like all mega-popular battle royale games, Apex Legends has been dealing with a cheating problem. From run-of-the-mill aimbots to absurd movement speeds, Apex cheaters have come up with all sorts of ways to break the system. However, Respawn said it's gaining ground in the anti-cheat war and is actively "attacking this from every angle."

"We’ve been working closely with key experts across EA, including EA Security and Fraud, the Origin teams, and our fellow developers at DICE, FIFA, and Capital Games, in addition to Easy-Anti-Cheat," project lead Drew McCoy said. "While we’ve already rolled out several updates (and will be continually doing so for the foreseeable future), others will take time to fully implement."

McCoy said Respawn is working to both improve cheat detection and prevent other activities like account selling and farming. Luckily, it sounds like Apex Legends' new reporting tool has sped up this process considerably. McCoy said player reports have helped identify several new cheats, "including previously undetectable cheats that are now being automatically identified."

On the back of those reports and Respawn's ongoing anti-cheat measures, roughly 770,000 players have been banned so far, and over 300,000 account creation attempts have been denied to block repeat offenders. Respawn reckons the number of matches affected by cheaters on PC - which currently has more sophisticated reporting measures than consoles - has also been cut in half in the last month. Taking cheaters out of online games is like picking pet hair off the couch - you'll never get it all - but the situation in Apex certainly seems to be improving. 

For more updates, read up on the latest Apex Legends patch notes. 

Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.