Apex Legends devs dole out nearly 6,000 hardware bans in anti-cheat crackdown on "malicious bad actors"

Respawn Entertainment has shared another update from Apex Legends' anti-cheat team, stating that since the end of April, "nearly 6,000 hardware bans across PC and console" have been issued in the shooter game.

This follows on from their previous announcement in May of 139,697 bans across all platforms Apex Legends is playable on, covering a wider amount of bans for "various cheating infractions." Another was shared just last week, announcing "jitter aim" aim assist system exploits as also considered cheating.

In the latest post, which was shared on Monday, July 13, the anti-cheat team stated: "While the majority of those bans impacted players on PC, we are actively increasing our utilization of hardware bans on consoles."

These 'hardware bans', which are said to be the most strict punishment when doling out a ban, are typically reserved to target "malicious bad actors and serial cheaters." This allows the team to "target systems designed to evade enforcement," which can identify "repeat offenders" and restrict them from accessing the game, even in the case of them creating new accounts.

All in all, cheaters and bad actors better watch out, because Respawn seems set on doing what they can to make the game fair for everyone who hops into a match.