After a set of hackers took the top spots on the Apex Legends ranked ladder, Respawn has confirmed their accounts have been banned and the new rankings are “cheater free”.
Just like Warzone, Apex Legends has been struggling with the abundance of cheaters in its competitive mode, especially at the top ranks on the ladder.
This makes it nearly impossible for players to win certain games, with hackers utilizing wallhacks, aimbots, and even DDoSing matches.
To try and combat this, Respawn has been ramping up their attempts to clear out cheaters in ranked, even threatening legal action to those who interfere with the game’s servers.
Well, on September 30, a “purge” of the Predator leaderboard even wiped out two hackers holding the top spots, making space for more highly skilled players.
Apex Legends bans Predator cheaters taking up top spots
While very few members of the Apex Legends player base will ever reach Predator, a lot of them keep track of which players are at the top of the leaderboard.
This gives a lot of the community motivation to keep climbing and allows highly skilled players to show off their impressive rank. However, when the top spots are held by cheaters, it devalues the purpose of the leaderboard.
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Luckily, Respawn Security Analyst RSPN_Hideouts took the matter into his own hands and directly banned the cheaters.
Although it took some time for their names to be wiped off the leaderboard, this “purge” allowed other players to make their way up into the top ranks.
Purge completed. New rankings are accurate and cheater free.
— Conor Ford / Hideouts (@RSPN_Hideouts) September 30, 2021
While this is only a few players being banned, it’s great to see Respawn taking action against cheaters in Predator.
Keeping the top leaderboard free from hackers gives players motivation to aim for the top and continue climbing in ranked.
Although the game is a long way from being totally free from cheaters, it’s clear that Respawn is heading in the right direction, and keeping the top ranks free of hackers is a great place to start.