TheApex Legendsban hammer has been utilized. Two of the top players in ranked-mode inApex Legendshave just been banned for cheating; one of which has been caught cheating in the past as well.
Season 8 ofApex Legendswill begin shortly, on June 17, 2025. Along with a new Legend, new weapon, map changes, and more, there will be a Ranked Mode reset. But at least a few players will not be able to partake in that grind to Apex Predator rank, as two of the top ten players in the world were caught cheating.
RELATED:Apex Legends Accused of Copying Character Design from Indie Game
Conor Ford works for Respawn Entertainment as a part of the security team. His Twitter bio reads “Speak softly and carry a big ban hammer.” He seems to have done just that recently, as a recent but simple tweet simply reads the hammer emoji times two. This is certainly not the first time ahigh-rankingApex Legendsplayer has been bannedfor cheating, and it likely will not be the last.
It did not take long for the community to find out who the cheating culprits were, including invulnerableFPS, who has apparently been caught before. The other cheater’s identity has not been identified at the time of this writing. While some have defended thebattle royaleplayer in the past, it will not be easy to do so after getting caught a second time.
Cheating inApex Legendsis not a new issue, unfortunately. What many would prefer is to see the battle royale implement more of a legitimate anti-cheat software within the game, instead of having individuals like Conor Ford sift through reports to find cheaters and ban them.Call of Duty: Warzonehas cheaters nearly ruining whole tournaments, which may not be quite as bad as what is happening inApex Legends, but something more still needs to be done.
As a garish but still respected voice in online shooters and battle royales,Dr Disrespect believes that dropping ban hammers based on reports can be risky. Doc was referring to theWarzonetournament cheaters in this case, and legitimate hackers can certainly still be kicked out in these instances, but the best solution is probably still to implement anti-cheating software that is built into the game itself.
IfApex Legends, Call of Duty: Warzone, and other online games can detect unnatural movements and gameplay and kick players out based on that, it would likely be much more effective. Anti-cheating software would be able to kick players out before they wreak havoc on those who want to play legitimately, and it would make it far less likely that anyone gets banned for perhaps even playing legitimately and betting the ban hammer for no reason. In the case of the two players that were just banned fromApex Legends, they went through an entire season, climbing up ranked-mode and becoming some of the highest-ranked players in the game before being banned. That means the game very challenging and difficult for other players for the whole season, which certainly should not have been the case.
Apex Legendsis available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with a Switch version currently in development.
