Respawn details further measures to stop Apex Legends cheaters
And players use #SaveApexRanked hashtag to highlight issues.
As with many online games, Apex Legends unfortunately has its fair share of cheaters, and developer Respawn is in something of a continuous battle to prevent them from misbehaving. In recent months players have reported increased DDoS attacks on Ranked games, with Respawn pledging to take "huge steps" to fix the problem. And we now have another update on what the studio is doing to combat cheaters, with Respawn hiring more people and developing new tools to keep them at bay.
As explained on Twitter, Respawn said it's hiring "more people to focus on manual bans", and is also investigating new ways to catch and remove cheaters from games - presumably through automated tools. Respawn also specifically addressed the DDoS problem, saying it was "developing more tools to automatically detect and stop DDoS attacks".
"Playing against cheaters sucks," said Respawn's Twitter account. "We'll keep you updated as we ship the above changes and pursue new ones."
In response to Respawn's tweet, several Apex Legends players started a hashtag called #SaveApexRanked to emphasise the prevalence of cheating in Ranked mode, and request that Respawn do more to tackle the problem. The hashtag managed to trend on Twitter earlier this week, and even resulted in a protest song of, um, debatable quality.
"We are going into about the 8th or 9th consecutive month of cheating and DDOSing being the principal issue facing the ranked ladder and its integrity," said Twitch streamer sweetdreams in a Twitlonger that helped spark the discussion. "There are entire regions who are unable to play the game due to this, it's sad."
Respawn director of communications Ryan K. Rigney agreed that the TwitLonger raised several good points, but contested the claim that Respawn's tweet was an attempt to "fool" players, saying that this was "unproductive".
"There are very valid complaints in here - we've gotta crack down on the cheating and make real progress," Rigney said. "Actions are needed, not just words."