Nothing more annoying than a cheater in a multiplayer game! To fight against cheaters, Electronic Arts has developed a sophisticated anti-cheat system. FIFA 23 will be the first title to benefit from this.
Players who are fans of the multiplayer mode inevitably have to deal with cheaters one day – the famous cheaters. Nothing is more annoying than coming across an invincible enemy who kills in one shot, with infinite ammo or whose projectiles can pass through the environment! The developers are doing their best to fight against this anti-game, like Electronic Arts (EA) – which notably owns the famous licenses Battlefield and Apex Legends. The publisher has indeed developed internally a brand new anti-cheat system, called EA AntiCheat (EAAC). The first game to have it will be the football game FIFA 23out September 30 on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, Stadia, and Nintendo Switch.
EA AntiCheat: an anti-cheat system at the heart of the PC
Cheaters are mostly PC gamers, since it is quite easy to install software and interact with game files. operating systems that control the organization of processes and data of each computer in the background – EA has therefore decided to implement an anti-cheat system for some of its games. “Developers of cheats on PC have increasingly invested in the kernel, so we need to have protections in kernel mode to ensure fair play and thus fight against developers of cheats on PC on an equal footing” , he explains in a press release. This technology does not only work on multiplayer modes, but also on the individual part of games, with malicious users taking advantage of single-player game modes to develop cheats by studying and then modifying the inner workings of the game by reverse engineering, before committing them. apply in competition with other players. EEAC will not only protect PC gamers from cheaters, but also console gamers who play against them. Indeed, cross-play now allows – on compatible games – players to play with each other, regardless of the platform used.
However, this new anti-cheat system raises some concerns among the community. One of them concerns respect for privacy. This is because EA previously used third-party software that collected certain information, such as browser history and personal files. The firm explains in its FAQ that, as the technology is at the kernel level, it does not need this type of information. It only monitors processes that attempt to interact with those in the game and encrypts the data it collects on the computer. Moreover, the firm promises that EA AntiCheat has only one “negligible impact” on game performance – unlike some anti-piracy systems like Denuvo. As for those who are worried about the reliability of the anti-cheat system, EA explains that, as it was developed in-house, EAAC will be able to be updated quickly in the event of a security problem. It only works when the game is launched and is uninstalled at the same time as the latter. Additionally, EA works with independent third-party security and privacy evaluators.
Cheaters: the scourge of multiplayer games
The first game from EA to take advantage of this anti-cheat system will be FIFA 23, which will be released on September 30. Particularly competitive – especially since chaining victories allows you to obtain the best rewards… – this game is the first title in the franchise compatible with cross-play between PC, Xbox and PlayStation. This is why this technology is more essential than ever. Indeed, on Fifa, some cheats cancel the fatigue of the players of their team and increase their stamina, modify the allocated budgets and the game clock. Some even do not hesitate to take control of the opposing team, rendering the other player completely helpless ! Other games – but not all – will take advantage of EAAC in the future. The choice will be made on a case-by-case basis, and will only concern multiplayer games or games with a high degree of competition – the sims should not normally be affected.
EA is not the only developer to actively fight against cheating. Activision has also gone to war against cheaters on its war game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, thanks to an anti-cheat system called Ricochet. In addition to grouping cheaters on the same server, the publisher has set up temporary or lifetime bans depending on the degree and recurrence of cheating. In the worst case, cheaters will not even be able to access future games, including by creating another account, and that’s good.