Respawn has announced that roughly 3,100 cheaters have been removed from Apex Legends following its latest ban wave. Cheating is a continuous problem surrounding most live-service titles, with companies looking to tackle the issue in various forms. Respawn in particular recently announced that the studio will look to add notable improvements to its cheat detection mechanisms. It's now concluded ban wave indicates that Apex Legends may have more in store on that front.Respawn's announcement comes amid efforts to set the stage for an ambitious Season 17 launch. The upcoming season will see Apex Legends introduce its new Legend Ballistic after the developers opted to skip a new character introduction for Season 16. In addition to Ballistic, Respawn will be introducing changes to the World's Edge map, an updated Firing Range, and a new weapon mastery system, along with the addition of a new survival item and added ping options. Further, developers stated that players could expect improvements to its matchmaking and cheat detection systems as well.In a tweet from its official account, Apex Legends announced that it has completed its ban wave and has removed roughly 3,100 players from the game. According to the developers, the banned players were found to be colluding in Ranked matches to earn Ranked Points by trading kills. As with other live-service titles, Apex Legends has been plagued by numerous issues around cheating since its launch in 2019. Though, the studio hasn't shied away from taking action with some Apex Legends ban waves affecting high-ranking players. In any case, the latest effort suggests that Respawn may be taking a more active approach when it comes to cheaters.
Last week, the developers detailed all the changes that will come to Apex Legends Season 17, with some of the more interesting tweaks shipping to its Ranked matches. According to the studio, part of its implementations will help prevent players from collusion and kill farming, such as by disallowing players to gain kill points for killing another player more than once. Additionally, Respawn is adding new cheat detection methods with Season 17, although only time will prove the effectiveness of the new system.
While it remains to be seen how the latest season will pan out, the slew of changes and additions coming to Apex Legends is a clear indicator that the live-service title may continue to retain its place as one of the top IPs in the multiplayer space. As to what holds for Respawn beyond Apex Legends, its company CEO recently stated that he still has hope for a third entry to the Titanfall franchise someday. While that's no guarantee that Titanfall 3 will come to life anytime soon, fans can still take heart in Respawn's continuous commitment to keeping the franchise alive.
Apex Legends is currently available for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.