Apex Legends developer Respawn commits to tackling cheaters

Apex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment has committed to fixing cheating in ranked, but in turn, has sparked a community hashtag that has trended on Twitter.

Cheating in the higher-tiers of Apex Legends ranked has been an ongoing heated issue for the game's community, and it appears to have spilled over past boiling point in the last day.

Yesterday, Respawn Entertainment committed itself to tackle the cheating problem. In a post on Twitter, it tweeted out:

The Respawn team is pursuing several options to crack down on cheating in @playapex:⚒️ Hiring more people to focus on manual bans🔧 Developing more tools to automatically detect and stop DDOS attacks🛑 Investigating ways to more quickly catch and remove cheaters from gamesJune 28, 2021

However, sections of the community has hit back. In a TwitLonger post that has been retweeted over 11,200 times, professional Apex Player Chris "sweetdreams" Sexton shared a post complaining about the number of cheaters in high level ranked. It reads: "We are so done with it, it's to the point where we literally DO NOT know what to do, we just sit around month over month and nothing changes and it's demoralizing. Please take initiative and #SaveApexRanked, before it's too late."

The hashtag #SaveApexRanked has now trended across the world. It has been used by many notable Apex streamers and professional players, including ImperialHal, Daltoosh, iiTzTimmy, and Nokokopuffs.

Respawn Entertainment director of communications, Ryan K. Rigney commented on the post, agreeing with portions of it, but arguing with some of the language used. Circling a line in Sexton's Twitlonger that reads, "don't let respawns tweet about intentions to help ranked fool you", he tweeted:

There are very valid complaints in here—we've gotta crack down on the cheating and make real progress. Actions are needed, not just words.But I'm kinda bummed to read the last line. Idk why you'd reframe an effort to communicate as an attempt to "fool" players. Unproductive. pic.twitter.com/HTj9ZbvLkzJune 28, 2021

Elsewhere, Apex Legends game designer Brian Vidovic added his take, echoing much of the sentiment saying:

Disrespect, threats, or general garbage behaviour won't be tolerated, no doubt, but we love this game as much as you do and we are, actually, always working to make it the best experience possible. There is SO much going on behind the scenes at all times. 2/3June 29, 2021

He finished by saying: "Again, I get the frustration. BUT! Game development is insanely difficult. It is nonsense any games ever get finished TBH. But I get it. Please be patient. We'll fix it. We always do."

It's a salient point and one which is a reminder that the people behind the game care as much, if not more so, about the integrity of it as its fanbase. One way or another, here's hoping that Respawn can indeed get the cheating situation under control and make higher-end play a better experience for all.