‘Battlefield 2042’ May Suffer From A Rampant Cheater Problem On Launch

Battlefield 2042's trailer is filled with the game's best and most memorable moments

It’s no secret that almost every “Battlefield” game in the past has suffered from the presence of hackers populating DICE’s official servers. This might also be the case with the upcoming “Battlefield 2042” as the stolen source code for the Frostbite Engine might have made it to the hands of cheat makers everywhere.

In June, hackers tried to ransom the stolen source code, which EA refused to pay. Some weeks later, cheats for “Battlefield 2042” were already being put up for sale on various cheat websites. This might just lead to a catastrophic launch for the game as the series is notorious for its lackluster anti-cheat measures.

A similar cheating problem is currently plaguing “Battlefield’s” biggest competitor: “Call Of Duty.” Both “Warzone” and the current mainline game “Black Ops Cold War” have been suffering from hackers that are ruining the game experience for ordinary players.

To this day, hackers are still present in “Battlefield 1” and “Battlefield V’s” official servers. Custom servers run by community members occasionally have cheaters playing in them, but they normally pose little to no threat when a server admin is online as they can kick out or ban cheaters at will.

“Battlefield 2042” will have a similar anti-cheat measure, as reported by YouTuber LevelCapGaming. According to him, “2042’s” Portal mode will allow server owners to moderate their servers, kicking or permanently banning suspected cheaters from returning.

These bans will carry over to all Portal servers created by one owner. If a suspected hacker gets banned in one server, they won’t be able to enter any other server owned by the same moderator.

This type of policing method largely negates the need for strict anti-cheat software like EAC or Riot Vanguard, ultimately cutting costs for the developers while giving players more agency over who gets to play the game or not. However, this system might also result in unfair bans as high-skill players tend to get in-game scores similar to that of cheaters without actually using illegal software.

However, this might mean that official servers for “Battlefield 2042” may end up infested with cheaters just like in the older titles in the series. The developers have not yet commented on how they plan to address this problem.