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YouTube star Jarvis banned from 'Fortnite' over cheating
Another YouTuber is facing the consequences of cheating first-hand. Epic Games has permanently banned popular YouTube creator and FaZe Clan member Jarvis from Fortnite after he posted videos where he used aimbots (which virtually guarantee flawless shots) to wreak havoc in the battle royale game's non-competitive modes. In his apology video, Jarvis said it was "completely wrong" and that he was only thinking about "how entertaining and interesting" the videos would be, rather than the consequences of a possible ban
'Apex Legends' will pit cheaters against each other
Respawn may have a particularly poetic way to exact justice on Apex Legends cheaters: give them a taste of their own medicine. The studio has revealed that its anti-cheating efforts will include matchmaking between detected cheaters and spam accounts. Their aim bots and hacks won't be much fun if they're playing against similarly dirty competitors.
Blizzard will shut down 'Overwatch' matches when it spots cheating
Blizzard thinks it has a straightforward way to prevent Overwatch cheaters from wrecking others' matches: bring those matches to a screeching halt. As part of a developer update, Game Director Jeff Kaplan has revealed that Blizzard will automatically shut down matches when it detects cheating. It's not certain how the studio will catch this behavior, but it's promising that only the cheater will face "very harsh actions." You won't lose the SR points from a competitive match just because a ne'er-do-well joined your team and forced an abrupt ending.
Niantic sues group of alleged 'Pokémon Go' cheaters
It's not just multi-platform gaming giants suing cheaters. Niantic has sued members of Global++ for allegedly offering "unauthorized derivative" (read: hacked) versions of Pokémon Go, Ingress and even the still-in-beta Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. The modified mobile apps not only violate intellectual property rights, Niantic said, but "undermine the integrity of the gaming experience" by helping players cheat. This hurts player enthusiasm for the games and thus could "interfere" with Niantic's business.
A brief history of cheating at video games
For as long as we've played games, there have been players willing to break the rules in order to win. Whether it's rolling weighted dice, counting cards, or hip checking pinball machines, you can bet your bottom dollar that if there's a game of chance, someone's working to work the odds in their favor.
‘Apex Legends’ bans 770,000 cheats
Just over a week ago Respawn announced that it's taking a stronger stance against cheating in Apex Legends. Today, it revealed that it's blocked 770,000 players, 300,000 account creations and 4,000 cheat seller accounts. The company says this is just the beginning of its battle to takedown cheats.
Epic banned over 1,200 'Fortnite' World Cup players for cheating
You'd think that an event as high stakes as the Fortnite World Cup would have participants on their best behavior, but that's apparently not the case. Epic has revealed that it banned more than 1,200 accounts for some form of cheating during the first, online-only week of the tournament. Most of those, 1,163, received a two-week ban for bypassing regional restrictions and trying to play in multiple areas -- 196 of them had to forfeit prizes they'd won as a result. Another 48 were banned for account sharing (nine of which lost prizes), while one received a 72-hour competitive ban for intentionally disconnecting. There were also a handful of more serious allegations.
'Apex Legends' has banned 500,000 accounts for cheating
Apex Legends season 1 is now underway, and beyond the updates previously Respawn had revealed would be included in today's patch (including a new character, balance changes and character hitbox fixes), it revealed 499,937 accounts have been banned for cheating so far. You'll have a better way to report cheating and abuse, which you can do from the spectate view after your character dies or from the Squad tab.
'Apex Legends' will make it easier to report cheaters
Apex Legends already has cheaters just two weeks into its existence, and Respawn wants to be sure they don't become too much of a problem. The studio has dropped not-so-subtle hints that it's incorporating a cheat reporting tool in its battle royale shooter, calling it a "very good idea" in a community update. Right now, anyone spotting a cheat has to go through a website and, if possible, record their own evidence. If they can't, they have to report someone's ID and hope for the best.
'GTA Online' cheat creator ordered to pay $150,000 in damages
Game publishers are still using lawsuits to take down cheaters, and their latest move could deal a particularly serious blow. A court has ordered Florida resident Jhonny Perez to pay $150,000 in damages (and $66,869 in attorney fees) for creating and sharing Elusive, a paid cheating tool for GTA Online that allowed infinite money and other cheats. Perez allegedly violated Take-Two Interactive's copyright, disrupted gameplay balancing, threw off its in-game purchase model and soured the experience for honest players.
Oppo is the latest to be caught cheating on phone benchmarks
You can add another big name to the list of phone makers found cheating on benchmarks. UL Benchmarks has delisted Oppo's Find X and F7 phones from its 3DMark charts after testing from itself and Tech2 revealed that both devices were artificially ramping up processor performance when they detected the test by name. Oppo acknowledged that it always stepped things up when it detected "games or 3D Benchmarks that required high performance," but claimed that any app would run full bore if you tapped on the screen every few seconds to signal your actions.
'Fortnite' creator Epic Games sues YouTuber for selling cheats
Epic Games is no stranger to suing Fortnite cheaters, but now it's aiming at a particularly high-profile target. The developer has filed a lawsuit against YouTube personality Brandon Lucas (aka "Golden Modz") and his frequent partner Colton Conter ("Excentric") for using and selling cheats. Lucas, who has over 1.7 million subscribers, allegedly violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, breached contract and engaged in "tortious interference" by posting videos of his Fortnite cheating and selling the cheat tools through his website. Conter sometimes participated in those videos.
The creators of 'Fortnite' just bought an anti-cheating company
Epic Games has acquired Kamu, a Helsinki-based company whose offerings include game security, game telemetry and game management services. Epic has already been using Kamu's services with Fortnite, and CEO Tim Sweeney said working with Kamu has "been key to building a vibrant Fortnite multiplayer experience that's fair for all players." Going forward, the acquisition will allow Epic to establish a presence in Helsinki, and Kamu will continue to support its customers.
Huawei was caught cheating on phone benchmarks (updated)
You'd think smartphone manufacturers would have learned their lesson after being caught cheating multiple times, but that's apparently not the case. UL Benchmarks (aka the Futuremark team) has delisted Huawei's P20 Pro, P20, Nova 3 and Honor Play from 3DMark's charts after internal testing and an AnandTech exposé showed the devices ramping up performance whenever they detected the public versions of benchmarking apps. These were not subtle differences, either, with results up to 47 percent higher than they were with private test variants Huawei couldn't catch.
It's official: Playing as Oddjob in 'GoldenEye' was cheating
I thought this secret would go to the grave with me, but alas, my hand has been forced -- I have a confession to make. Back in gaming's early glory days, when Rare's seminal Nintendo 64 first-person shooter GoldenEye was the only game that really mattered, I would always play as Oddjob against my younger (clueless) sister. I told her the only reason she couldn't hit me was because her aim was rubbish and I was just better than her, but I knew it my heart this was a lie. Now the game's creators have ratted me out.
'Pokémon Go' cheaters now get three strikes before a ban
In a post today, Niantic provided details on its new three-strike discipline policy for Pokémon Go players. In most cases, players found to be cheating will first get a warning through the Pokémon Go app and certain gameplay experiences may degraded for about a week. For example, that player may not be able to encounter rare Pokémon in the wild and could be excluded from receiving EX Raid Passes. The second strike will result in a temporary suspension that will last for approximately 30 days. If a player continues to cheat, the third and final strike will be a permanent ban.
Frustration over 'Splatoon 2' cheating leads to leaderboard hack
Splatoon 2 has had a cheating problem for a while, with unscrupulous players quickly wiping out entire teams in what's supposed to be an accessible, kid-friendly shooter. And now, frustration over the cheating is reaching a fever pitch. Nintendo has banned a player's accounts after he orchestrated a leaderboard hack to draw attention to the cheating problem. The gamer used a combination of power editing and a little luck to make the leaderboards for different game modes spell out "please add anti cheat," drawing more than a little attention to the issue.
Popular 'PUBG' streamer faces ban for playing with cheater
There's no question that PUBG's creators want to crack down on cheating, but some players have wondered: is it really willing to go after superstar players if they play dirty? Apparently, the answer is yes. PUBG Corp has issued a one-month ban to Shroud (aka Michael Grzesiek), one of PUBG's best-known streamers, after a session where he initially complained about and then played with a cheater. The hacker both took Shroud around in a flying car and helped him spot rival players that were otherwise invisible. And did we mention that the hacker wasn't part of Shroud's squad, which is a bannable offense by itself?
'Dota 2' team kicked from $15 million finals for using mouse cheat
There have been several eSports cheating scandals before, including a match-fixing arrest, an 'Overwatch' hackers being fined almost $10 thousand and a PUBG hacker arrested for selling game cheats. The stakes continue to remain high, as with a Dota 2 player who just disqualified his team from a $15 million tournament by using a programmable mouse.
Algeria shuts down internet during exams to curb cheating
Algeria is not kidding around when it comes to exam cheats this year. The country is shutting off internet access for both mobile and fixed line connections for an hour after each high school diploma exam starts. Officials hope the move will stop any leaks. The temporary shutdowns will last until the end of the exam season on June 25th, the BBC reported. Algeria is also blocking Facebook across the nation during the period.
