Apex Legends forced to postpone tournament amid cheating

EA’s games have suffered from numerous cheating issues for several years now. A highly anticipated tournament is the latest setback for the video game company.

According to Apex Legends‘ official X account, the Apex Legends North American Finals tournament has been postponed due to hackers, with no makeup date announced. Notably, the hackers broke into matches and applied cheats like aimbots to pro players in the tournament.

Due to the competitive integrity of this series being compromised, we have made the decision to postpone the NA finals at this time.
We will share more information soon.

— Apex Legends Esports (@PlayApexEsports) March 18, 2024

Footage on Twitch shows players using aimbot, a program allowing gamers to aim at targets more accurately. ImperialHal was one of those players using it. He said on Twitch that he couldn’t tell the difference between aimbot and aim assist after hackers gave him aimbot without his knowledge. He posted his thoughts on the situation to X (see below).

"Hey guys I cant shoot I'm cheating"

Me- pic.twitter.com/zxZxvkhRev

— TSM ImperialHal (@ImperialHal) March 18, 2024

Pro player Genburten also noticed hacks during his stream. He could see players through walls and eventually figured out he had an aimbot.

EA’s handling of cheaters has sparked reactions on its general discussion page, including, “Why not accept that there will always be cheaters in any game that’s popular” and “Cheating is rampant on Apex legends, literally 60% of base players is cheating in any form.”

The U.S.-based company laid off 650 people in February as the video game developer is looking for a deeper and more connected experience for its fans, according to CEO Andrew Wilson.

The Apex tournament included 30 teams, with a prize pool of over $100,000 USD (approximately $170,000 CAD).

Image credit: EA

Source: Apex Legends Via: Engadget