What Battlefield 6’s 2.39 Million Cheat Attempts Says About Online Gaming

Battlefield 6 has apparently been preventing 2.39 million attempts at cheating in online matches, which says a lot about the state of online play. While cheating has always been a factor in gaming, online multiplayer has become a particularly vicious battleground for the practice. Over the years, everything from auto-aiming programs to game-breaking bugs has been utilized to tweak gameplay and give certain players an advantage.

To combat this, several developers have begun to infuse their games with anti-cheating software. The likes of EA and Riot do their best to catch the cheating attempts to ensure that gameplay remains untainted. EA Javelin has been the version used to combat cheating in Battlefield 6, and according to the publisher, it has been a rousing success. However, there are still some unfortunate realities that we have to face about the enduring power of cheating in online gaming.

EA’s Anti-Cheating Software Stopped Over 2 Million Attempts Since October

Cheating in online gaming spaces goes back to the earliest days of online gaming, and attempts to counter it have had mixed results in the past. However, it seems that EA and Battlefield Studios have found the key to keeping unfair play out of Battlefield 6. The game uses a kernel-level anti-cheat system called EA Javelin, which operates within the OS to root out attempts to manipulate the game from outside sources. EA has claimed that since the title launched in October, Battlefield 6‘s anti-cheating technology has caught 2.36 million attempts by players to fudge the results of matches.

Since incorporating this tech, the studio has been able to counter 183 of the 190 programs, hardware, and software that help certain players game the system and cheat their way to victory. While this has also caught up some third-party devices and hardware meant for accessibility purposes, the overall impact has been focused on apps and hardware that help players gain an unfair advantage in online matches. As a result, Battlefield 6 developer Battlefield Studios says that 98% of all Battlefield 6 online matches have been free of cheating.

This has been met with some scrutiny from fans — with many believing that the programs that circumvent EA Javelin account for more cheat attempts than the developers are giving credit for — but has been a largely positive development among the player base. However, it also fundamentally speaks to an issue that may be impossible to fully eradicate from gaming, given that it’s more of an aspect of human nature than anything technologically designed.

Online Gaming Still Has A Cheating Problem

Cheating has always been an issue in gaming of all forms, going back long before video games were readily available. There are still cheating scandals in the world of professional sports, and it isn’t hard to simply lie during a board game with friends to gain an advantage. However, cheating has been a frequent factor in online gaming, where the right technology or program can allow a player to become a god amongst men. While it can be frustrating dealing with any uncouth play, there’s a fundamental difference between isolating a glitch in the game to achieve a positive result and actively subverting the game mechanics with an external tool. It’s one of the most aggravating realities of playing games online, and something that developers like EA have been actively dealing with through the use of tech like the EA Javelin. It’s good that they’ve done this, and promising that the results have been so good.

However, as some Battlefield 6 players have pointed out in spaces like Reddit, there is always new tech being developed and refined to contend with the ways studios can contest cheating attempts. The deluge of attempts and the variety of programs make it hard to keep up with new advancements in the efforts of cheaters. There’s also the sober reality that there is a certain subset of players who see cheating as a viable option in online gameplay. No matter how far the publishers go and as advanced as the anti-cheating technology becomes, there will always be a market for developers capable of circumventing the publisher’s blockades.

At a certain level, it’s a problem at the heart of the gaming community that has been there for generations before and will likely linger for a while longer. Battlefield hasn’t even been online for two full months, and it has already had to deal with over 2 million attempts to break the game, and there’s no way of knowing how many cheating apparatuses have actually slipped under the cracks. Even now, there are some programs that can circumvent EA Javelin, and there are undoubtedly more currently being made. While EA and other publishers are doing solid work in rooting out some of the more consistent cheating attempts and programs, it’s a problem that the gaming industry might never be able to fully root out until gamers reach a point where they don’t see the purpose in cheating — and that day likely will never come.