Apex Legends esports final postponed after hackers reportedly gave pro players cheats mid-game

18.03.2024 - 13:43 / videogameschronicle.com / Respawn Entertainment / Chris Scullion / Pro

The North American finals of Apex Legends have been postponed, after hackers appeared to give competitors cheats mid-game.

As reported by Forbes, pro players competing in the Apex Legends North American finals were suddenly being given cheats like aimbots and wall hacks, through no fault of their own.

The hack ruined the event, and it’s claimed that one player was even banned from the game for using an aimbot before Respawn stepped in and shut the tournament down.

“Due to the competitive integrity of this series being compromised, we have made the decision to postpone the NA finals at this time,” a tweet on the official Apex Legends Esports account on X read. “We will share more information soon.”

Clips of players being hacked have been shared on social media. In one of the most prominent clips, pro player DZ_Genburten is playing a match when his chat suddenly starts saying, “Apex hacking global series by Destroyer2009 & R4ndom”.

DZ_Genburten then realises that he can see the location of every player in the game, even those behind walls.

“I’m getting hacked, I’m getting hacked,” he says, holding his hands up to show he isn’t doing it.”

“Can you play?” asks another player. “Yeah,” he replies, “but it’s cheating. I can see everyone”. He then quits the game, looking visibly upset.

Another clip appears to show player ImperialHal being hacked mid-match and obtaining an aimbot, which causes the game’s anti-cheat mechanism to kick in and prevents him from being able to shoot his weapon.

It’s not yet clear how a hacker was able to access a private lobby for an esports final then give cheats to other players mid-match. It’s also not known how widespread the issue could be, and what the ramifications could be for others playing Apex Legends outside of esports competition.

X account Anti-Cheat Police Department, which reports on cheating in games, wrote: “There is currently an RCE [Remote Code Execution] exploit being abused in Apex Legends. It is unsure whether it comes from the game or the actual anti-cheat [Easy Anti-Cheat].

“I would advise against playing any games protected by EAC or any EA titles once they have fixed this or can comment.

“Currently, the RCE is being abused to inject cheats into streamers’ machines, which means they have the capabilities to do whatever, like installing ransomware software locking up your entire PC.”