Apex Legends Might Receive EA’s Kernel Level Anti-cheat System Soon

Nazmul Hassan
By Nazmul Hassan
5 Min Read
Credit: EA (Not Actual EAAC Logo)

EA announced its brand new and advanced anti-cheat system for FIFA 23. If everything goes well, we might also see Apex Legends implementing the same anti-cheat.

EA recently announced the launch of its latest kernel-level anti-cheat (AC) solution, EA AntiCheat or EAAC, for FIFA 23. The company has built this AC solution in-house to create a safe and fair experience for all its players.

Like many other developers, EA previously used third-party anti-cheat programs such as Easy Anticheat and Punkbuster to combat the cheaters’ issues. However, these anti-cheat programs could never truly prevent cheaters from tampering with the games.

“PC cheat developers have increasingly moved into the kernel, so we need to have kernel-mode protections to ensure fair play and tackle PC cheat developers on an even playing field.”, the Sr. Director, Game Security & Anti-Cheat of EA, Elise Murphy, said in a recent EA’s article.

EAAC will be launched along with the release of FIFA 23 this fall. However, EA also plans to implement its new AC system on its other competitive titles. If everything goes according to plan, Apex Legends might also integrate EA’s new kernel-level AC into its security system.

Read More: Respawn is Developing a New Single Player FPS Game in the Same Apex Legends Universe, and it is Confirmed!

What Does Kernel Level Anti-cheat Mean? Why is it Important?

In simple terms, the kernel is the core part of your operating system that communicates with your hardware. So, programs that run on your system’s kernel level get special privileges that allow them to access essential parts of your computer that regular applications cannot reach.

“The last few years have seen a large increase in cheats and cheat techniques operating in kernel-mode, so the only reliable way to detect and block these is to have our (EA’s) anti-cheat operate there as well.” Elise Murphy added.

Individuals or developers who make cheats also make them so that they can access the kernel level of your computer to avoid detection. So, the anti-cheats must also be on the same kernel level to detect the cheats.

Will EAAC Be as Good as Riot’s Vanguard?

Riot has set the standard for a kernel-level anti-cheat program with the Vanguard‘s implementation in VALORANT. Despite many controversies related to the initial Vanguard release, it became one of the best anti-cheat solutions to this date.

Other anti-cheat programs, such as Easy Anti-Cheat and Battleye, also operate at the kernel level. However, the problem is that they are third-party anti-cheat programs and do not give the game developers complete control over additional privacy measures.

According to Elise Murphy, “Third party anti-cheat solutions are often opaque to our teams, and prevent us from implementing additional privacy controls or customizations that provide greater accuracy and granularity for EA-specific game modes. With EAAC we have full stack ownership of the security & privacy posture, so we can fix security issues as soon as they may arise.”

As EA will implement EAAC into its own games just like Riot, it should work equally as great as Vanguard. However, it is too early to say how EAAC will turn out without seeing it in action.

Will Apex Legends Implement EAAC?

“We’re working with our game studios to determine anti-cheat needs for each project. For single player-only titles, or titles without competitive ladders or leaderboards, the cheat landscape differs. Depending on the title and type of game, we may implement other anti-cheat technology.” Elise Murphy explained.

EA is determined to implement its EAAC in all its competitive titles. But, they want to implement other anti-cheat solutions for single-player games or titles without competitive ladders.

Apex Legends is one of the most advanced competitive games under EA. So, if everything goes according to their plan, we can expect Apex Legends to implement EAAC in its system. However, without an official announcement from EA, it is too early to say for sure.

Read More: Apex Legends’ Future Is In Question As EA Looks To Sell Or Merge

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By Nazmul Hassan FPS Editor
Nazmul is GameRiv's FPS editor. He is a marketing graduate with an immense passion for gaming. As an ex-professional CS:GO player, he holds a strong interest in other FPS titles like Apex Legends, VALORANT, and CoD. However, he also tries out other games when he is free.