Respawn details anti-cheat, security team expansion with over 6 million Apex accounts banned

Cheaters, begone.

Crypto aims a P2020 while his drone watches on World's Edge.
Screengrab via Respawn Entertainment

Ever wondered how many Apex Legends accounts get banned on average? Spoiler alert: It’s a whole lot according to Respawn Entertainment, who detailed a recent expansion in its security team and anti-cheat process in a blog post today.

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The sheer number of accounts banned for cheating is eye-watering. Since the game’s launch in 2019, over six million accounts have been banned for cheating, and on average there are 100,000 accounts banned for cheating every month. Those are staggering figures, but they also probably won’t surprise many Apex players who’ve tried to play ranked over the last several months. Complaints about cheaters have reached a fever pitch once again, and to combat this newest wave of cheating in the game, the devs at Respawn have made more investments into their security team.

Apex Legends Revival mode screenshot
Hitting hackers from every angle. Image via Respawn Entertainment

“We’ve expanded our team to improve 24/7 coverage and are now better equipped to monitor, quickly review, and take corrective actions on cheating reports,” Respawn said in a blog post. “We’ve grown our anti-cheat team in targeted regions, like Asia-Pacific, that have been particularly hard-hit by global cheating activity.”

The blog post also detailed a little bit more about Easy Anti-Cheat, the kernel level anti-cheat software the game uses to detect cheaters, and noted how the Apex team has added “additional layers of protection” for detection and disabling of cheats.

Respawn said the blog post was part of its recent commitment to more open communication on the issue of cheating and their measures against it, which should be a welcome change for players after the last couple of seasons. In addition to battle pass changes and taking issue with the game’s match-making, dealing with cheaters was another headache for Apex players that led to record-low player counts at the end of season 21.

Apex has faced cheating crises before and managed to stem the tide of aim-botters and speed-hackers. Let’s hope the post today is another step back in that direction.

Author
Image of Adam Snavely
Adam Snavely
Associate Editor and Apex Legends Lead. From getting into fights over Madden and FIFA with his brothers to interviewing some of the best esports figures in the world, Adam has always been drawn to games with a competitive nature. You'll usually find him on Apex Legends (World's Edge is the best map, no he's not arguing with you about it), but he also dabbles in VALORANT, Super Smash Bros. Melee, CS:GO, Pokemon, and more. Ping an R-301.