Two of Apex Legends highest-ranked players banned for cheating
Respawn EntertainmentRespawn Entertainment has dropped the ban hammer on two of Apex Legends’ highest-ranked players, after a handful of professional players made complaints to the security team.
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Despite a constant and never-ending effort to stamp out cheaters in Apex, they are still all-too-common at even the highest ranks.
There have been a couple of names that the community has had their eye on for some time now, and it appears they have finally been quashed, thanks once again to Respawn’s security lead Conor Ford, aka Hideouts.
These players were among the top 10 in the global rankings for Ranked mode in Apex Legends, clearly ruining the experience for other, legitimate players.
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On January 22, Hideouts posted a simple but effective message: his trusty ban hammer x2.
🔨 x 2
— Conor Ford / Hideouts (@RSPN_Hideouts) January 23, 2021
It didn’t take long for the community to identify one of the culprits as ‘invulnerableFPS’ – who had played under other pseudonyms in previous ranked seasons.
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TSM pro and Halo legend Eric ‘Snip3down’ Wrona was happy to see the player whom they had suspected of cheating finally get their deserved punishment.
LOL turns out @invulnerableFPS got banned AGAIN! Absolutely pathetic man, anyone who was defending these guys who have been caught before will be dead silent now I’m sure, now how about the accomplices?? Justice has been served!
— FaZe Snip3down (@Snip3down) January 22, 2021
With the ban, these players are now removed from the ranked leaderboards, allowing legitimate players to get their proper ranking.
Apex Tracker, a website that keeps track of the highest-ranked players through an API, confirmed the bans with a Respawn rep, updating the standings accordingly.
We're aware of bans that have just been enforced on certain high ranking players.
A Respawn rep has confirmed direct w/ us also (thank you)
We're not in the business of naming names unless it's in a positive manor; just let it be known we're aware of the 'issue' lets say.
— Apex Tracker (@Apex_Tracker) January 23, 2021
Although these bans are welcomed and are a positive step, cheating is an issue that remains pervasive at all levels of Apex Legends.
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Hideouts is widely praised in the community for his work against hackers but is only one individual, and players feel a more effective anti-cheat is necessary on a system level.
With that said, Apex is still fairing better than its battle royale rival, Warzone, which appears to have absolutely no effective anti-cheat system whatsoever – an issue that has affected big-money tournaments.