Apex Legends' ninth season, dubbed Legacy, is just around the corner and, aside from adding another new character, will also mark the debut of a brand new mode, Arena. Aside from new content, however, developer Respawn is looking into taking further measures to prevent DDoS attacks. Ryan K. Rigney, Respawn's director of communications, suggested as such earlier this month, but he's since further clarified what exactly the studio intends to do.
Recently, an AMA was held on the Apex Legends subreddit, where Respawn addressed concerns and questions from fans regarding the game's online. Naturally, one such question was about how Respawn would be dealing with hackers who use DDoS attacks to shut down servers, especially in competitive play. Not too long ago, a pair of high-ranking players were discovered to have achieved their high ranks through DDoS attacks and were subsequently banned, but it seems that simply banning cheaters like them may not be enough.
Rigney acknowledged this and stated that Respawn is working on closing the loopholes that allow people to perform these kinds of attacks in the first place. It won't stop there, however, as it is improving the tools with which Respawn can identify anyone who launches a DDoS attack and is working alongside experienced partners to come up with more holistic solutions to the problem.
Not only that, but apparently Respawn is strongly considering pursuing legal action, with Rigney saying that Respawn believes it is justifiable in some cases. He adds that while all of this is a high priority at Respawn, it will take some time before it all comes to fruition.
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by u/rkrigney from discussion Official Respawn Q&A on new Servers, Netcode, and Tickrate Dev Blog
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The threat of legal action could very well be enough of a deterrent to put off some hackers and has been done by other studios in the past (for example, Ubisoft filed a lawsuit against a group that had been distributing DDoS software to use in Rainbow Six Siege) but it remains to be seen if it will completely put an end to hacking incidents. Tracking down a suspected DDoS attacker and taking them to court is by no means simple and it will most likely serve as a last resort for Respawn rather than it being their go-to solution every time a hacker is spotted.
As for the next season, it's expected to begin in early May (probably next week) and its new character was revealed to be the daughter of one of the antagonists from Titanfall 2. The reveal even saw a spike in player count for Titanfall 2 on Steam.
Apex Legends is available on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.