It is well-known that PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has a cheating problem. Players of the hugely popular battle royale game often complain that it is overrun with cheaters who use various pieces of software to gain an unfair advantage over their opponents.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds developer PUBG Corp. is already using several methods to identify and ban cheaters and its latest plans can be seen a way of bolstering those anti-cheat efforts.

These plans include ending Steam Family Sharing support. The game had previously supported the feature so that "the account holders who own PUBG can use their character with other Steam accounts if they wanted to" but the developer has identified "a number of vulnerabilities" that could be exploited by cheaters.

PUBG Corp. has also updated the game's Rules of Conduct, adding to the list of bannable offenses. The list of things that could get someone banned from playing PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds now includes deleting of modifying files.

"If you tamper with the game files, your game access may be blocked, especially if you delete, modify or manipulate in any way the files affecting any of the game systems and mechanics," explains the developer. This means that anyone deleting files in order to avoid the Miramar map does so at the risk of being banned from the game.

Moreover, new anti-cheat software will be rolled out next week, also with the goal of blocking any unauthorized programs. PUBG Corp. says that this includes "helper programs" such as those that change the game's graphical settings, e.g by making textures brighter. Fans had long complained that these types of texture-affecting programs was just another form of cheating and is as bad as using an aimbot or wallhacks, so many will be happy to hear this news.

The battle to make PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds a cheat-free game is far from over. PUBG Corp. acknowledges that the anti-cheat software that goes live next week is a work in progress and that it may end up "temporarily" blocking some software that does not affect gameplay. This will undoubtedly cause some controversy among the community and some players will fear being banned accidentally too.

The developer also explains that it is upgrading its in-game report features to allow it to "effectively review your reports and accurately verify cheat activities." Cheating is one of the main complaints that people have about the game but positively, it seems like PUBG Corp. is doing what it can to address the issue.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is available now for PC and on Xbox One through the Game Preview program.

Source: Steam