Apex Legends Permanantly Bans Over 2,000 User Accounts

Apex Legends is the award-winning, free-to-play Hero Shooter from Respawn Entertainment. Released in 2020, the game has now released over 25 different hero classes, has gone through over 20 seasons, and has garnered a pretty substantial following, with many people enjoying the game. However, recently, Apex Legends has come under scrutiny, as Respawn has issued over 2,000 permanent bans of user accounts for XIM cheating devices. Here’s all that was reported about the bans.

Apex Legends Issues Over 2,000 Permanent Bans

As of February 19, it’s been reported that Apex Legends has banned over 2,000 user accounts on the titular game for XIM cheating devices. So what does this mean? XIM devices sit between your console or PC and your peripherals, which lets you plug in a mouse and keyboard while the system still thinks you’re on a controller.

Now that doesn’t sound so bad; however, it gives massive gameplay advantages in games like Apex Legends, especially over controller users. Players can simultaneously use the precision and flick potential of a mouse while still using controller aim assist, which many people view as cheating, describing XIM devices as input spoofers. Apparently, over 2,000 user accounts were found using XIM devices and were immediately and permanently banned from the game.

So many people from the community quickly took to social media to spread the news of the ban. X user HYPERMYST highlighted the key points of the mass banning, including in his post that these users were using XIM devices and that this round of bans comes after last month 1,000 user ban. It seems Apex Legends has had its hands full with cheaters. Here’s the full statement Apex Legends has issued on their X account addressing the bans:

BANWAVE

A new detection targeting XIM cheating devices was enabled today that resulted in over 2,000 accounts being permanently banned. This follows a detection we enabled in January which targeted Titan cheat devices and resulted in over 1,000 accounts being banned. Use of third party cheating peripherals is not tolerated in Apex.

What Does this Mean Going Forward?

Respawn Entertainment has actually been dealing with these kinds of issues for months now. Last September, Respawn Entertainment updated the title’s anti-cheat measures in its efforts to prevent cheaters from negatively impacting casual and competitive matches. Since the launch of Season 23, over 400,000 accounts have received permanent bans thanks to improved bot detection and catching those using anti-recoil exploits.

Then there was another wave of bans in January with the crackdown on players using Titan cheat devices to gain unfair advantages during matches. Now, Apex Legends has found 2,000 more users guilty of using XIM devices. The bans have definitely impacted Ranked and pub lobbies, as users who actually play by the rules don’t have to deal with unnaturally skilled players during matches. I have to commend Apex Legends for all of its efforts in cracking down on third-party cheats.

With all the commotion Apex Legends has been dealing with, these bans are a positive step forward as the game starts its sixth Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) season. The season begins on February 28th with the first regional Online Open tournaments deciding eight teams that qualify for the first ALGS Pro League split in April. The game has also launched its Season 28 last week, so make sure you check that out as well.

Cheating Crackdowns Across Multiple FPS Games

The numerous waves of bans Apex Legends have made have caused other games to look into third-party cheats from users. Earlier this month, Call of Duty revealed new measures to prevent users from suing devices cheats that would improve reaction time and use aim assist not provided by the game. These new measures are mostly aimed at ranked matches and would prevent hackers from dominating online matches or esports competitions.