Escape from Tarkov Dev Issues Update on Cheating

When it comes to live service games, publishers and developers are always trying to stay one step ahead of cheaters and often outright ban bad actors. However, when it comes to banned players in the massively popular extraction shooter Escape from Tarkov, contrary to popular belief, not everyone who got banned was actually involved in cheating.

In fact, according to newly released data from Battlestate Games, only 54 percent of banned players were cheaters. Other? Well, the reasons are varied.

As part of a larger anti-cheat update to coincide with the game's 1.0 release, Battlestate Games revealed that they will now “step away from publishing cheater ban lists and instead attempt to answer most of the hot topics around fighting cheats, as well as provide more detailed statistics regarding the amount of bans issued in a given time frame.”

Still, that didn't stop the developer from offering a breakdown of his bans.

54 percent of bans were caused by fraudsters.
22 percent of bans were caused by RMT sellers and buyers. (RMT stands for Real Money Trading, which in Tarkov means exchanging real money for virtual goods and services)
The remaining 24 percent of bans were due to “other” reasons.
- Others are defined as auto-leveling bots, accounts using scripts and other prohibited software.

“Anti-cheat is always an ongoing effort because as the gaming industry evolves, more companies enter the market with the clear goal of making money off of cheating,” Battlestate wrote.

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So what's next?

In addition to providing an in-depth look at how and why people were banned, Battlestate also outlined its plans for the future, including a new wrinkle to the game's gameplay.

In the future, TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot will become essential elements to play the game. Battlestate acknowledged the backlash the requests received, but noted that it was a “necessary measure in today's world, not to completely prevent cheaters from entering the game, but to rewrite some of the software and limit features.”

In addition, more preventive measures will be in place. This includes new detection systems that should keep up with bad actors.

“The fight against cheaters is still a game of cat and mouse and becomes more complex as time goes on, but we are still keeping up with our commitment to implement new detection systems soon and reduce the number of raids cheaters can play before they are banned,” the post read.

What you won't see is Battlestate going straight after the cheat developers. They will when it makes sense, but often “a successful outcome to a court case can take a lot of time and not justify the effort.” Instead, it will focus on stopping the spread of ads and videos, which can help minimize the reach of developers.

It's a huge update, but worth reading if you have the time or interest in how the sauce is made.