Continuous service games, particularly first-person shooter games, have to deal with the constant threat of hackers ruining other players’ experience just as much as they do by balancing individual mechanics. Many developers have been open about their efforts to stem the tide, with PUBG Mobile announcing its waves of banning millions of players on a regular basis. While Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six Siege doesn’t boast such large numbers, its developer recently updated players on ongoing efforts to address cheating.
The game has three main focuses in its approach to reducing cheating, according to a Rainbow Six Siege developer blog post published on February 2: improving detection, increasing barriers to prevent even novel cheats, and reducing the impact of cheating. on other players. His goal with the post is to give fans a behind-the-scenes look at how he deals with exploiters, but Ubisoft reportedly cannot be “completely transparent,” as this may hamper his efforts.
In total, 91,112 players were banned in 2020 through data shared by the BattlEye detection software, which is 44.73 percent more than their previous ban number record according to the blog post. An additional 4,500 players were banned between August and December using a new data-driven detection model aimed at flagging accounts early for developers to investigate. While this pales in comparison to a game like Call of Duty: Warzone that recently banned 60,000 cheaters in a wave, it shows that the effort to tackle cheating is ongoing across the industry.
📢New Anti-Cheat Dev Blog📢
We have an update for you on our continued war against cheating in our latest Dev Blog.
Find all the details here: 🔗 https://t.co/HVY4MesqHr pic.twitter.com/6F1ZCt56gX
— Rainbow Six Siege (@Rainbow6Game) February 3, 2021
The aforementioned data-driven detection model, use of the BattlEye software also used by Fortnite and Fall Guys, and general player reports are three main avenues through which Rainbow Six Siege searches for cheaters. While the blog post says that “it will always be impossible to detect 100 percent of cheats,” it also discusses efforts to make life more difficult for cheaters and cheat developers while ensuring the game is less vulnerable in general.
Beyond these efforts to address cheating, Rainbow Six Siege has also been providing its players with new content to enjoy through updates such as Operation Neon Dawn from December 2020. Those who enjoy Tom Clancy games as a whole too were able to participate in a Ghost Recon: Breakpoint and Rainbow Six Siege crossover event last month.
However, the time spent improving games like Rainbow Six Siege has left some wondering when they can expect Ubisoft’s next Rainbow Six Quarantine. The leaked Rainbow Six Quarantine release date for March was confirmed to be bogus, so fans will have to comply with Siege and his increasing anti-cheat measures in the meantime.
Rainbow Six Siege is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X / S.