Massive Entertainment reveals its official stance on hackers and exploiters in Tom Clancy's The Division along with ways it plans to fix these problems going forward.
Ubisoft's highly anticipated shooter, The Division, had a stellar first month, launching to great reviews and breaking all kinds of sales records as players began to take back Manhattan. Unfortunately, the momentum has dropped a bit as bugs and exploits began to rear their heads prior to the first major content update which eventually arrived on April 12. As issues continue to hinder the experience for many, Massive Entertainment has detailed its view on exploits and the rising hacker problem along with how it plans to make the game environment healthy again.
In an official post on The Division website, Massive admitted the game experience recently has been impaired by in-game bugs and players who are in direct violation with the rules typically in the Dark Zone. The community has been vocal in drawing attention to this problem and as such, Massive has implemented new cheat detection methods that have already identified many more offenders. Players have essentially two strikes, with the first violation resulting in a 14 day ban while the second strike will be permanent.
The second major issue with the game resides with the seemingly increasing number of bugs and exploits. To hopefully improve the quality levels of each release, Massive is reviewing its development and testing process in an attempt to minimize the amount of bugs going forward. The developer does make sure to mention that it is nearly impossible to simulate the experience that millions of players will have, which may result in a glitch making it out into the game.
With that said, Massive plans to move fast to confirm and fix any found bugs, and keeping a log of known issues for players to read on the official forums. With players being informed and aware of potential consequences, it also allows Massive to take action against those who continue and knowingly utilize exploits through the use of sanctions. The severity will be based on the type of exploit being used and the history of the player but it could result in suspensions, character rollbacks and (for severe issues) permanent bans. Players who discover and report found issues however will not have anything to worry about.
It's been a rough month for The Division as a number of major bugs have surfaced causing a lot of issues for the sizable player base. Recently, many have surfaced around Falcon Lost, the first major incursion mission that launched as part of the April 12th update. Being the crown jewel of that content update, Massive has been swift in addressing the issues and have finally fixed each of the exploits that have been found inside of that incursion. With the next update scheduled for May, many fans are hoping the changes detailed above will prevent a similar situation from occurring.
Are you still enjoying the experience or have you gotten to the point where you're waiting for a fix before jumping back in? Feel free to sound off about this below in the comments.
Tom Clancy's The Division is available now on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.