Apex Legends studio bans 355,000 cheating players

The 355,000 players caught cheating on Apex Legends were all using the PC version of the game, the studio behind the game has said.

Respawn Entertainment said it intended to be "secretive" about its plans to combat cheating, so as not to forewarn players trying to break the rules.

Apex Legends has attracted 50 million players since its release last month.

It is often compared with Fortnite, which has 200 million players and was released in July 2017.

Both shooter games are in the form of Battle Royale - where players fight against each other until only one survives.

• Apex Legends v Fortnite: The battle for Battle Royale

In Apex Legends, gamers play in three-player squads rather than as individuals. They pick from one of eight possible pre-defined characters, each with different abilities and roles.

Apex Legends also has more realistic graphics than the cartoon-style feel of Fortnite. Legends draws heavily on work that Respawn did on the Titanfall 2 video game.

In an update on Reddit, Respawn said it would be adding a report feature which would take players through to anti-cheat platform Easy Anti-Cheat.

"The service works but the fight against cheaters is an ongoing war that we'll need to continue to adapt to and be very vigilant about fighting," it said.

"We take cheating very seriously and care deeply about the health of Apex Legends for all players."

Games analyst Piers Harding-Rolls from IHS Markit told the BBC that cheating on the Windows PC version is more common because it is easier to download a cheat application.

"Reducing cheating is an ongoing process for games publishers and a significant operating cost," he said.

"The battle is never won, as new cheats and hacks are appearing all the time.

"Big publishers or developers like Respawn create teams of anti-cheating staff to target cheaters and also work with specialist companies to apply anti-cheating software which is integrated into their client software."