Apex Legends has been in the news a lot recently. From the ALGS championships to the Genesis Collection Event, there are numerous reasons to follow the game. Unfortunately, not all of this news has been positive. Over the past few months the game has come under frequent attacks from cheaters. In an effort to make Respawn crackdown on hackers, Apex pros call for changes to Ranked. They are using the hashtag #SaveApexRanked on Twitter in an attempt to bring awareness to the problems facing the Battle Royale.
The #SaveApexRanked movement started after pro player for NRG, Chris “sweetdreams” Sexton, wrote a response to the pervasive problems with cheaters destroying the competitive integrity of the game’s Ranked mode. In the post called “Empty Promises and False Hope,” Sexton explained his frustrations with the current state of competitive play due to cheaters and DDoS attacks. Furthermore, he proposed that Respawn needs to add more people to ban cheaters throughout the day. He proposed the idea of giving respected streamers the power to ban suspected hackers as well.
Empty Promises and False Hope. #SaveApexRanked before it's too late.
Read: https://t.co/ruTdiQ7FGN
— sweet (@sweetdreamsh1) June 28, 2021
Numerous fellow professional players have voiced their support for the need to fix the mode. Some of the high-profile names advocating that Respawn crackdown on cheaters include TSM FTX ImperialHal, NRG Rogue, and TSM FTX Snip3down. These are only a few of the many players behind this movement. This community created initiative to fix Ranked has quickly gained traction as the hashtag has begun trending on Twitter.
Interestingly, Respawn posted an update on Twitter regarding their attempts to stop cheaters. This came less than an hour before Sexton’s post. They mentioned hiring people to manually ban cheaters (something Sexton suggested) along with creating additional methods of finding and stopping DDoS attacks.
The Respawn team is pursuing several options to crack down on cheating in @playapex:
⚒️ Hiring more people to focus on manual bans
🔧 Developing more tools to automatically detect and stop DDOS attacks
🛑 Investigating ways to more quickly catch and remove cheaters from games— Respawn (@Respawn) June 28, 2021
Ryan Rigney, Respawn director of communication, has responded to Sexton’s post as well. In addition to acknowledging the concerns of the community in regards to hackers, he also stated that “actions are needed, not just words.”
While the company claims to be actively searching for a solution to the problem, many pros say that the developers have promised this before. Popular streamers such as Nokokopuffs remain skeptical as to whether the developers can remedy the problem.
I know we all saw respawns post today. But tbh we have seen this before, words are said and minds are calmed but the problem remains. It’s by no means a far stretch to say ranked is unplayable. My vod yesterday proves that. #saveapexranked before it’s too late. https://t.co/9o6TYUfobO
— Nokokopuffs (@Nokokopuffs_) June 28, 2021
This isn’t the first time that Respawn has had to deal with hackers sabotaging their games. Titanfall and Titanfall 2 have both been hit with a barrage of DDoS attacks over the past few months as well.
All of this news comes as the Genesis Collection Event kicks off today. The limited time event gives players a chance to take a nostalgic trip back to Season 0 Kings Canyon and Season 3 World’s Edge. In addition, new skins for popular Legends along with a new heirloom for Revenant are available during the festivities.
Time will tell whether Respawn manages to rid the game of cheaters. At any rate, the #SaveApexRanked movement shows that people continue to care about the game.
Have you experienced a cheater while playing the game? Let me know in the comments below.
