Anti-Cheat Research Shows Cheat Developers Earning Millions Annually

A recent examination of anti-cheat software in gaming has unveiled the most effective solutions and highlighted the lucrative underground market for cheat creation.

Cheating remains a critical concern in the online gaming sector, with game developers tirelessly working to outpace hackers who produce aimbots, wall hacks, and various other malicious tools.

A 2024 study conducted by the University of Birmingham assessed 80 websites that sell gaming cheats and evaluated the efficacy of different anti-cheat systems in identifying them.

The findings reveal a staggering revenue for cheat distributors, with researchers estimating their aggregate income to be between $12.8 million and $73.2 million per year.

Issues related to wallhacks, aimbots, and other cheating methods have significantly impacted Warzone.

“Our analysis indicates that the pricing of cheats is highly related to the resilience of the anti-cheat technologies they must surpass. This relationship is more significant than other factors, including the game’s overall popularity,” the authors noted.

The research also identified games with the most robust anti-cheat measures, with Valorant and Fortnite emerging as leaders in this area.

Following these titles are Overwatch, Battlefield 2042, Rainbow 6 Siege, and Apex Legends, while Warzone ranks closer to the bottom of the effectiveness scale.

Top Performers: Valorant (Rank 1.1) with Riot’s Vanguard offers extensive protection at both user and kernel levels, loading at boot, rendering it the most secure. Fortnite (Rank 1.2) also excels with its kernel-level anti-cheat system, implementing various proactive measures… pic.twitter.com/xSzCyN28lf

— Anti-Cheat Police Department 🕵️ (@AntiCheatPD) October 29, 2024

The report further discusses that “despite being classified as a kernel-level anti-cheat solution, it failed to identify any of our kernel-focused testing. Nevertheless, beyond recognizing kernel-level cheating patterns, Ricochet managed to detect a majority of attack attempts. However, our investigation showed that it lacks a rigorous ban protocol and fails to implement hardware ID bans.”

This research arrives amid increasing worries from Black Ops 6 fans regarding Ricochet’s inability to accurately identify cheaters, leading to wrongful bans of innocent players.

While the battle against cheating in gaming seems unending, some companies are leveraging legal action to safeguard their interests. Earlier this year, Bungie, the creator of Destiny 2, was awarded $4.4 million in damages after pursuing legal action against the cheat developer AimJunkies.

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Image Credit: Dexerto.com