Ongoing service games, particularly first-person shooters, have to deal with the constant threat of hackers ruining the experience for other players as much as they do balancing individual mechanics. Many developers have been open about their efforts to stem the tide, with PUBG Mobile announcing its million-player ban waves on a regular basis. While Ubisoft's Rainbow Six Siege does not boast numbers quite as large, its developer recently updated players about ongoing efforts to tackle cheating.
The game has three main focuses in its approach toward reducing cheating, according to a Rainbow Six Siege developer blog post published February 2: improving detection, increasing barriers to prevent even novel cheats, and reducing the impact of cheats on other players. Its aim with the post is to give fans a behind-the-scenes look at how it deals with exploiters, but Ubisoft reportedly cannot be "fully transparent," as this may hinder its efforts.
In total, 91,112 players were banned in 2020 via data shared by the detection software BattlEye, which is 44.73 percent more than its previous ban number record according to the blog post. An additional 4,500 players were banned between August and December using a new data-based detection model meant to flag accounts early for developers to investigate. While this pales in comparison to a game like Call of Duty: Warzone recently banning 60,000 cheaters in one wave, it shows the effort to tackle cheating is ongoing all across the industry.
The aforementioned data-based detection model, the use of BattlEye software also utilized by Fortnite and Fall Guys, and general player reporting are three major avenues through which Rainbow Six Siege seeks cheaters. While the blog post says it will "always be impossible to detect 100 percent of cheaters," it further discusses efforts to make life difficult for cheaters and cheat developers while ensuring the game is less vulnerable overall.
Beyond these efforts to tackle cheating, Rainbow Six Siege has also been providing its players new content to enjoy through updates such as December 2020's Operation Neon Dawn. Those who enjoy the Tom Clancy games as a whole were also able to take part in a Ghost Recon: Breakpoint and Rainbow Six Siege crossover event last month.
However, the time spent improving upon games like Rainbow Six Siege has left some wondering when they can expect Ubisoft's upcoming Rainbow Six Quarantine. It was confirmed that a leaked Rainbow Six Quarantine release date for March was fake, so fans will have to make due with Siege and its increasing anti-cheat measures in the meantime.
Rainbow Six Siege is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Ubisoft