Since the launch of Pokémon GO, developer Niantic has remained suspiciously quiet on its efforts to tackle cheaters of the mobile title. As longtime Trainers know, hundreds of players have made an effort to override the system in order to obtain Pokémon and items without actually playing or purchasing any items. After years of silence from the company, on Tuesday, February 23rd, Niantic detailed their story in fighting off cheaters from the inside.
According to Niantic, the team never chose to address cheaters publicly out of fear that information being published would be used again them. Niantic wishes to keep its detection mechanisms a secret for the overall benefit of the community. As hackers discover new ways of cheating and spoofing throughout Niantic’s titles, the company would like to ensure that its ways of finding these individuals remain secure. However, that doesn’t mean Niantic will not continue to post statistical updates regarding how their work is going in plucking out cheaters.
Since the beginning of 2020 alone, Niantic has issued over 5 million ban warnings to players across all their titles. Out of that number of cheaters, 20% of them received permanent bans on the spot — yes, meaning one million players were banned altogether without any prior warning due to their activities. However, in a stroke of positive news, 90% of cheaters who received a first warning stopped cheating after being sent the notification.
Niantic has noted that the company will continue to look into new anticheating software and methods in order to create a secure environment for all players to compete equally. While their efforts may seem admirable, the company will not stop until they find a way to combat new forms of cheating being discovered almost every day.
For Niantic’s full statement regarding recent anticheat efforts, you can check out their full writeup on the Niantic Blog page. Get back out on your mobile adventures and remember, play it fair for the sake of everyone trying to enjoy the world of Pokémon!
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Written by Marc Kaliroff
Ever since owning a cobalt blue Game Boy Advance, Nintendo is his preferred way of gaming. Marc is a journalist, creative writer, and video producer. While his focus may be on providing news, he spends his days preparing reviews for games of the present and past.
