Online gaming is in the worst possible state and it doesn't seem to be getting better any time soon. What occurred in the NA Finals of the ALGS (Apex Legends Global Series) is utterly embarrassing!!! (Scroll to bottom of blog for video version)
Above is Genburton - an Apex Legends pro and this happened in one of his competitive matches in the ALGS. You can clearly see that out of nowhere he got wall hacks and was able to see the location of every player and team in the game.
Now you might be thinking - oh here we go! Another "pro" gamer caught cheating on stream! But that's not happening here, it's even more bizarre...
These matches happen in private servers where you need a special code for entry. EA is strict about who gets codes to make sure random players can't join the lobby and ruin ALGS.
However in this scenario, a known hacker by the name "Destroyer" (****ing loser btw) somehow got into the ALGS lobby and activated cheats for Genburton. How ridiculous is that???? Genburton has never downloaded hacks or done anything sketchy - yet this outside player is able to enable hacks for him....in one of the biggest games on Apex...insanity.
But it didn't just happen to Genburton, it also happened to the most notorious Apex Legends player in the game - ImperialHal.
Now without a doubt the funniest part of this clip is that Hal knows within his first burst that he has aimbot activated on his character. Right away he calls out, "I HAVE AIMBOT. I HAVE AIMBOT!!!"
It's also hilarious that Hal kept playing, but he knew the game wasn't going to count anyway. Because they were unable to stop this hacker, Destroyer, they decided to postpone ALGS until they can come up with a solution.
Now, Call of Duty has been in shambles for a while, but what happened in ALGS is BAD!! The fact that EA can't stop outside parties from not only joining matches but also can't stop them from activating cheats on any player they want...it's just simply terrible.
ALGS isn't played just for fun either - in 2024 the prize pool has been upped to $5 MILLION. That's no pocket change...but at it's core the most important thing within these tournaments is competitive integrity. Without it, then we can see Apex going down the Warzone route and we can see cheaters win hundreds of thousands of dollars before getting caught.
Thankfully, I don't think this would be able to happen during the actual ALGS finals because it is played in a stadium setting where all the players are playing on LAN. For those we are unaware, it's a similar setting to the Fortnite World Cup way back when - all the gamers are in the same location so in theory it'd be much, much harder to pull something like this off.
Regardless, it's a damn shame that the players have to deal with outside BS like this while they are playing for their careers and to support themselves/their families. We really need anti-cheat across all systems to find another gear and cut cheating off right at the source. However, with AI and technology getting more advanced, it just seems more likely we're headed in the other direction...
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Video Version