In the first Apex Legends developer blog of 2025, Respawn Entertainment has detailed its new armory of weapons to combat hackers and cheaters. Season 24 will bring a host of matchmaking changes aimed at making Apex Legends a fairer battleground for all players.

Apex Legends Assault Class Ash And Ballistic
Interview: Apex Legends Devs Talk Weapon Buffs, Arsenals, and More Coming In Season 24

The Best War Games chats with Apex Legends developers about how Season 24, Takeover, will upend the game's meta, bring much-needed buffs, and more.

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In the first Apex Legends developer blog of 2025, Respawn has outlined its continued efforts in the struggle against hackers and cheaters. Following the controversial Anti-Cheat methods introduced in Season 23 of Apex Legends, the developer has reiterated its commitment to not only fight cheaters but also to work and communicate more openly with players. “Anti-Cheat and game integrity will always be a top priority for us,” writes Respawn, before outlining the new steps taken to combat botting and teaming.

Apex Legends Season 24 Bringing new Anti-Cheat and Matchmaking Updates

Anti-cheat Updates

  • Action taken against teaming has resulted in sanctions against 1200 accounts and the removal of 17.4 million ranked points.
  • A brand-new "future-proof" machine learning model will soon be deployed to combat bots.
  • A new Report Feedback tool is being developed to provide insights on action taken against reported cheaters.

Matchmaking Updates

  • Upcoming measures will help to ensure fair matches including: Unranked Skill Display; seeding skill values; lessening Ranked resets; queue time adjustments; and Ranked Placement matches.
  • Teams of enemy "Apex Bots" may be added to low-ranking matches. Bots will not form teams with players.
  • Testing of called-for features such as preferential matchmaking (solos vs. Premades) taking place.
  • Focus on future transparency with Apex Legends community.

Acknowledging that Apex Legends has suffered a “recent increase in bots,” Respawn has created “a brand-new machine learning model” to detect both current bots and “future variants and evolutions.” This “future-proof” tool is apparently “incredibly accurate with low false negatives” and should already be active in-game. Respawn has also targeted teaming in Ranked game modes, where multiple opposing teams join forces to fix the match in their favor. For several months, Respawn has been “rolling out new automated teaming detection algorithms, swifter and more severe punishments, and stripping any ill-gotten ranked points from offenders.” Around 1200 accounts have faced bans or sanctions, and 17.4 million ranked points have been stripped from their accounts. These Anti-Cheat measures will be a welcome sight to gamers after last year's series of issues culminating in the public hacking of the ALGS North American regional final. The developers also stress the importance of reporting cheaters and reveal that they are looking into a system to inform players when action has been taken against a reported account, allowing gamers to see that their actions are making a difference.

Anti-Cheat and game integrity will always be a top priority for us.

Respawn is also implementing various changes to make matchmaking fairer for new and skilled players. Season 24 will roll out an unranked skill display for Trios BR, allowing players to compare their team against others in the lobby. When loading into a new game mode, initial skill values will also soon be influenced by past performance in other modes, making matches fairer. The developer is also fine-tuning start-of-season skill reset values and re-implementing ranked placement matches to further reduce skill mixing in matches.

Perhaps most importantly for players, Respawn finishes the blog by confirming its dedication to transparency, stating, “We’re committed to continuing the conversation with you, our community, and we’re reiterating that promise now in 2025.” After the hacking and monetization controversies surrounding Apex Legends throughout 2024, many players will be glad to see that Respawn appears to be acknowledging their feedback and actively working towards fixing many of the battle royale's most challenging issues.

Apex Legends Tag Page Cover Art
8 /10

Apex Legends
Battle Royale
First-Person Shooter
Systems
phone transparent super greyscale 8-bit logo PC-1 PlayStation-1 Xbox-1
Top Critic Avg: 81 /100 Critics Rec: 74%
Released
February 4, 2019
ESRB
T for Teen: Blood, Violence
Developer(s)
Respawn Entertainment
Publisher(s)
Electronic Arts
Engine
Source on console/PC, Unreal Engine 4 on mobile
Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Cross-Platform Play
PC, PS4, Switch & Xbox One

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL

Conquer with character in Apex Legends, a free-to-play* Hero shooter where legendary characters with powerful abilities team up to battle for fame & fortune on the fringes of the Frontier.

Master an ever-growing roster of diverse legends, deep tactical squad play, and bold new innovations that go beyond the Battle Royale experience—all within a rugged world where anything goes. Welcome to the next evolution of Hero Shooter.

This game includes optional in-game purchases of virtual currency that can be used to acquire virtual in-game items, including a random selection of virtual in-game items.

Cross Save
Cross Progression lets you share your game progress across PC, PlayStation®, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch
Steam Deck Compatibility
yes
Genre(s)
Battle Royale, First-Person Shooter
X|S Optimized
yes
PS Plus Availability
N/A
OpenCritic Rating
Strong