Tencent bans over 450,000 PUBG Mobile players for cheating

From September 2 to September 8, Tencent permanently blocked over 450,000 PUBG Mobile accounts for cheating.

The popularity of PUBG Mobile has grown, and with it, the prevalence of cheating and hacking in the game’s community. Tencent works hard to maintain the game’s balance and fairness, keeping it free of negativity, cheating, and hackers, and doing everything in its can to discourage players from abandoning the game and perhaps the franchise. A total of 459,812 PUBG Mobile players were banned permanently by Tencent between September 2 and September 8 for cheating.

Tencent deployed The Fog of War last month, an improved anti-cheat system intended to identify gamers who use hacks and cheats. When the anti-cheat system identifies a cheater, it disables their visibility in-game during matches and subsequently bans them. Hackers employ a variety of cheats to give themselves an unfair advantage in the game. Almost half of the banned gamers had their accounts suspended for employing X-ray vision, while 21 percent of accounts were barred for utilizing auto-aim (21%), according to Tencent. In addition, 21% of the bans were for changing the area damage, 9% were for speed hacks, and 3% were for unspecified other offenses.

In addition, Tencent is taking active measures to prevent hacking in PUBG Mobile by directly blocking the source of hacks. Several social media profiles that publish in-game cheating content on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube were also targeted by Tencent. It is alleged that the social media posts showcased cheat-related content, demonstrating how to use hacks and exploits in games. In the report, the company claimed to have removed 11 Facebook pages and groups, 775 YouTube videos, and 10 Instagram accounts for encouraging cheating.

In the wake of cheating accusations, Tencent bans two Asian teams 

Teams from all over Southeast Asia took part in the play-in competition for the PUBG Mobile Pro League on September 3rd and 4th. While teams like Vampire Esports, Don’t Break Dreams, and TEM Entertainment went above and beyond to uphold the reputation of the gaming community, the competition has been marred by two teams that were found to be using unfair tactics.

Esports across the globe are often plagued by match-fixing, but teaming up is still an uncommon event. The two teams, Eighteen Plus Esports and Phoenix Esports, allegedly helped one another advance in the game. They didn’t seem to get very far, though, as their entire team plan appeared to backfire. Both of the teams were from the Vietnam region and had placed among the top nine teams at the PMPL Vietnam Fall 2022 competition. As a punishment, both teams will be fully barred from all future official PUBG Mobile tournaments and will have their accounts permanently deleted.

Header: Tencent/Riot Games