Respawn Issues Statement Following Apex Legends Hacking Incident

gamerant.com:

Respawn has finally offered an update after the recent Apex Legends hacking incident. The latest edition of the North American regional finals of Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) came to a halt as hackers made their way to the tournament. With no comment from the studio at the time, many Apex Legends players raised concerns over the possible vulnerability of the game. Thankfully, it didn't take long for an official statement from Respawn in an effort to dispel the security concerns.

Hackers aren't new to gaming, particularly when it comes to popular live-service games. Apex Legends itself has been plagued by several issues around cheating and hacking since its inception in 2019. Last year, in one of the company's notable ban waves, Respawn banned over 3000 cheaters in ranked matches. While hackers continue to find ways to rig the game, Respawn's latest update is an encouraging sign in terms of maintaining the community's trust and confidence.

The hacking incident at the Apex Legends tournament prompted immediate security questions, such as the hack possibly being an Easy Anti-Cheat vulnerability. However, Epic Games clarified that no such issues were found, followed by Respawn's own update on the game's status. In its statement, the company stated that it immediately paused the competition once the issue came to light. Respawn also said that its team deployed «the first of a layered series of updates» to ensure the game's security. While it remains to be seen what the specifics are, it's an indication that the developers have more security measures on the way.

Unfortunately, this isn't the only issue at hand for the Titanfall 2 studio. Recently, it was announced that Apex Legends was hit with layoffs as part of EA's 670 staff cuts that impacted several studios. A few weeks ago, EA CEO Andrew Wilson mentioned that the company is looking at «more modalities of play» in Apex Legends and that the focus is growing its popularity in untapped markets in 2024 and beyond.