Apex Legends Matchmaking Is Changing to Make Cheaters Play Against Each Other

Cheating in competitive shooters and similar games is hardly something that's exclusive to Apex Legends, but it's something that's certainly been a problem in Respawn Entertainment's game. It's an issue that's been documented well in the past as players used speed hacks and all the other typical types of cheats, but Season 2's ranked mode has brought on a fresh wave of cheaters. To combat both that problem and spammers, Respawn is working to adjust the matchmaking formula so that the confirmed offenders are forced to play against one another.

Respawn addressed the topic of cheaters specifically in its latest check-in post while spammers also found themselves in the developer's sights. The studio acknowledged that reports of cheaters have been a point of discussion recently within the Apex Legends community. Laying out a list of the behind-the-scenes efforts that are going on within the studio to prevent cheating from occurring, the devs had one point of interest that indicates these cheaters and spammers will be quarantined into their own matches.

Respawn's Efforts to Combat Cheating

• Using machine learning to create behavior models that detect and auto ban cheaters.
• Requiring TFA in certain regions on high risk accounts.
• Improving detection that identifies and bans new spam accounts before they are used.
• Ongoing work to adapt to new cheats.
• Matchmaking that matches detected cheaters and spammers together.
• Investigating how people party up for matches. Even if you are not specifically using a cheat, partying up with cheaters is still cheating.
• Increasing resources whether that be people or tech.

As other players pointed out within the comments, watching a bunch of cheaters play against one another would be quite the spectacle to see. By banning a cheater right away, one would imagine that the offending player would just start again with a new account to get back into the game. This way, they're effectively shadowbanned and have to play against other equally frustrating players.

No timeframe was given for when these changes will be in effect – though considering how specifics regarding bans aren't always offered, we might not know when the feature is added – but Respawn said it understands there's more work to do beyond this.

"As we've said before, the war against cheaters will be ongoing and remains a high priority for us," Respawn said. "There will always be work to do, improvements to make, and new things to adapt to. We'd like to thank the players that have been getting involved with helping us squash cheaters over the last week whether it be submitting reports or assisting with the vetting process for suspicious behavior."