EA and Respawn are trying to bring the hammer down hard on cheaters in Apex Legends by making some changes in how it'll respond to players caught using devices like Strikepacks, Cronus, and XIM. If you are caught using any of those devices or devices like them, you will be permanently banned from Apex Legends.
Moreover, Respawn has said that it "will not entertain appeals for leniency on accounts confirmed cheating." So if Respawn confirms that you've been cheating, you will have no recourse for getting back into the game, and just creating a new account will simply just restart the clock for how long until you're caught and banned again.
"Devices such as Strikepacks, Cronus, XIM, and similar hardware that manipulate input behavior undermine competitive integrity and negatively impact the experience for legitimate players," Respawn writes in a blog post on the official Apex Legends website, "particularly within console and controller ecosystems. Their use to automate actions, modify recoil, alter input behavior, or simulate unintended control schemes to gain an unfair advantage is cheating. Full stop."
Respawn continues by saying that it "understands" devices like this have become extremely widespread within Apex Legends, and that addressing players who use them is "one of the highest priorities for the Apex Anti-Cheat team and represents the next major front in our efforts to protect fair play across all platforms."
The post continues to say that the team is "actively developing detection improvements" that will include a "multi-layered detection system specifically designed to identify the use of input-manipulating hardware with a high degree of confidence." It is also being built so it can tell the difference between legitimate accessibility tools and cheating hardware.
Cheating in competitive shooters has always been, and will always be, a major problem so long as online multiplayer games exist. Bungie is trying to get ahead of the curve with Marathon by permanently banning anyone caught cheating. Activision was already having to put in major work to keep cheaters out of the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Beta, because for some reason there are players who think it's worth it to cheat before the game is even out.
Permanent bans like these won't keep cheaters out forever; if players who like to cheat in shooters have proven anything, it's that they'll go to great lengths to do anything other than play honestly and potentially accept that they might not be as good as someone else in the lobby. Hopefully, though, this shift in strategy to combat cheaters will help Respawn maintain a fair playing field in Apex Legends.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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