Apex Legends bans over 2000 exploit users, 94% of which were from PS4

EA's Battle Royale title, Apex Legends, has had a turbulent few months, as the cheating problem in the game ballooned out of control recently. Luckily, developer Respawn Entertainment is looking to fix this problem and has taken a lot of steps towards solving it recently.

Aside from the usual server side patches, Respawn has managed to isolate over 2000 accounts that have participated in what is known as "dashboarding" and has banned them. Here's a detailed breakdown as to what happened.

---

Apex Legends drops the ban hammer on 2,086 accounts for "dashboarding"

Banned 2,086 players early this morning for abuse of an RP loss forgiveness exploit (dashboarding) and abuse of a matchmaking exploit allowing high-rank players into Bronze lobby to farm. Breakdown is as follows:PC-44PS4- 1,965Switch- 15Xbox- 62🔨♥️

— Conor Ford / Hideouts (@RSPN_Hideouts) July 30, 2021

Apex Legends' Security Officer Conor Ford, better known by his online alias Hideouts, was able to share the news that Respawn Entertainment is taking action against ranked exploit users.

The exploit in question is known as dashboarding, which is the act of using a platform's behavior to gain RP loss forgiveness. For example, players on the PS4 would intentionally exit to the Sony dashboard in order to avoid rank penalties after a loss.

Out of the 2,086 guilty accounts, a surprisingly large,1,965 accounts, belonged to Sony's platform, as exiting to the dashboard was the easiest and most reliable way to prevent RP loss on the PS4.

In terms of the second exploit there was an undisclosed method that allowed players belonging to a higher rank bracket like Masters or Pred to queue against Bronze lobbies in order to gain some easy RP in Apex Legends' ranked mode.

Following up on the post, Hideouts mentioned that it is not a blanket ban and the punishment varies based on the severity of abuse:

"These are matchmaking bans that have varied lengths depending on extent of abuse. Sucks to miss the opening of a new season, come back next time around and enjoy the game how its meant to be played." - Respawn Security officer, Conor Ford

The Apex Legends' PC user base is infamous for using exploits and hacks to gain an unfair advantage, but considering that 99% of these exploit users came from consoles, it is safe to assume that no platform is safe from cheaters.