Respawn confirms Apex Legends esports pros were hacked mid-game, says it’s working on the issue

20.03.2024 - 10:17 / videogameschronicle.com / Respawn Entertainment / Vince Zampella / Battle Royale / Chris Scullion

Respawn Entertainment has confirmed that Apex Legends players taking part in a tournament were hacked mid-game.

Earlier this week the game’s North American finals were postponed, after players reported that they were suddenly being given cheats like aimbots and wall hacks, through no fault of their own.

Announcing the postponement at the time, Respawn only said it was “due to the competitive integrity of this series being compromised”, and that it would “share more information soon”.

Now, in a new statement on X, the studio has confirmed that players were hacked while playing the game, and that it’s releasing a series of updates that it believes will add extra protection to the game.

“On Sunday, a few professional Apex Legends player accounts were hacked during an ALGS event,” Respawn’s statement reads.

“Game and player security are our highest priorities, which is why we paused the competition to address the issue immediately.

“Our teams have deployed the first of a layered series of updates to protect the Apex Legends player community and create a secure experience for everyone. Thank you for your patience.”

Clips of players being hacked during the tournament have been shared on social media ove the past few days. 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.

X accountAnti-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].

Easy Anti-Cheat then released a statement claiming its software wasn’t the issue, saying: “We are confident that there is no RCE vulnerability within EAC being exploited.”