Legal hacks to eliminate cheating in games
In the face of rampant cheating, it's time for game developers to hack the hackers.
For video game developers, a large portion of revenue comes from additional purchases made by the player base, including purchases of expansions to the base game and purchases of in-game microtransactions. Maximizing this revenue stream requires the game to retain players over long periods of time.
One component of player retention can include offering a competitive multiplayer experience. However, as in any competitive endeavor, there is always the incentive to find a way to cheat to win. In this article, we will share some legal hacks game developers can use to push back on developers of cheating software.
Unfortunately for game developers, the sale of software designed to cheat in these competitive matches can be a relatively lucrative industry. One group, known as 'Chicken Drumstick,' made more than $70 million selling cheats for a mobile version of the game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, for example. Such cheating software ('hacks') pose a risk to the game developer.
Hacks compromise the competitive integrity of the game, which can lead players on the receiving end of such software feeling unsatisfied because they are playing at a relative disadvantage. If such hacks become widely adopted, large portions of a player base will inevitably stop playing the game, which, consequently, can result in lost revenue for the game developers.
While game developers typically act to ban the accounts of known cheaters, the effectiveness of such actions is often limited and inherently relies on being able to readily detect the hacks.
In the face of rampant cheating, it's time for game developers to hack the hackers
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