PUBG Mobile has banned over 2 million of their players in just a week in efforts to decrease the game’s rampant cheating problem. The series of bans came a week after the release of the game’s “New Era” update. The patch also claims there have been enhancements in almost every element of the game.
Rise of PUBG
There was a time that PUBG looked like it was unstoppable. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds was one of the founding fathers of the battle royale genre. The game aided in the birth of a new kind of gameplay that took the world by storm. Since the prime of PUBG, its fame has been taken over by Fortnite.
Fortnite drained away most of PUBG’s players because of its free-to-play feature and various crossover efforts. PUBG Mobile also made a crossover of its own such as the one with Walking Dead but Fortnite still managed to provide amazing content through partnerships with DC and Marvel which brought a lot of famous superhero characters into the tight rivalry. Even though PUBG is now away from its peak, its PC, console, and mobile versions are still highly popular.
PUBG Mobile addresses cheaters
Currently, PUBG Mobile still has millions of followers but it also attracted tons of cheaters. The game has a lot of previous issues with hacking but it seems like the developers have had enough. On PUBG Mobile’s official Twitter account, the developers revealed that they have banned over 2 million accounts using cheats just for the last week of August.
From August 20th to August 27th, 2,273,152 accounts and 1,424,854 devices have been permanently suspended from accessing our game, out of which these are the reasons:
⬜ 12%: Speed Cheats
⬜ 22%: Other
⬜ 27%: Auto-Aim Cheats
⬜ 32%: X-Ray Vision pic.twitter.com/0U7JFeSxtF— PUBG MOBILE (@PUBGMOBILE) August 29, 2020
The difference between device and account bans is critical. This is because account bans can be easily bypassed while device bans are more difficult to avoid. Instead of just making a new account, players who have received a device ban can’t play the game anymore using the mobile device that was caught. PUBG Corporation revealed that most of the bans were because of players using x-ray vision and there were only a few who used auto-aim hacks.
Unexpected promotion
PUBG Mobile previously received an unexpected upgrade from Apple. Now that the phone maker is currently preoccupied with a legal battle against Epic Games over the Fortnite’s monetization issues, the company promoted PUBG Mobile on its App Store. It is worth noting that Fortnite is PUBG’s toughest competition in the market.
It is unsure how the move has affected PUBG Mobile’s player base but with Fornite removed from the App Store, some of its players might transfer to PUBG. If this is true, these players will get a game with fewer cheaters than it had a week ago. For both newcomers and loyal players, this ban will provide them with a better gaming experience.
