Helldivers 2 developer, Arrowhead, has just announced a substantial change to the game's anti-cheat systems: A move away from GameGuard to Easy Anti-Cheat. The change will take place on October 20, and Arrowhead explained in a recent Steam post that the justification for the switch away from GameGuard comes down to cracking down on cheat mods and implementing additional security tools to "improve game integrity protection."

• Implementing additional security measures to crack down on recent cheat mods that have been circulating.
• Transitioning from GameGuard to Easy Anti-Cheat today, October 20th, with additional security tools in place to enhance its effectiveness and improve game integrity protection.

Microsoft says "hundreds" of AAA and indie games will run on NVIDIA RTX Spark PCs from day one, though Call of Duty will not be one of them. Windows and Devices head Pavan Davuluri made the claim at Microsoft's Windows and Surface event on October 7, where he also said Call of Duty support is coming in 2027. Apparently, no reason was given for the wait, and Microsoft didn't say which Call of Duty title they meant. That is an awkward gap, since Activision is a Microsoft-owned studio and the RTX Spark-equipped Surface Laptop Ultra starts at $2,599 with shipping set for October 16.

Anti-cheat is probably the holdup, although Microsoft hasn't confirmed that. RTX Spark uses an Arm-based CPU, so games run on Windows on Arm, and kernel-level anti-cheat drivers have to be rebuilt for it. Call of Duty relies on Activision's own Ricochet anti-cheat, which, as far as we know, only works on x86 systems today. Davuluri did show Gears of War: E-Day running at 60 FPS on the Surface Laptop Ultra. However, the resolution and upscaling settings were not disclosed, so the figure says little about real performance. It also isn't clear how many of those "hundreds" of games are native Arm builds and how many run through emulation. NVIDIA released its RTX Spark toolkit for Windows-on-Arm game development in July, and EA, Embark, and Ubisoft committed titles such as Apex Legends, ARC Raiders, and Anno 117: Pax Romana at Gamescom.

Earlier in 2026, it was announced that Arc Raiders would be getting Denuvo anti-cheat systems in order to curb an influx of cheaters in the game, and, according to a recent blog post, Embark is again expanding its anti-cheat efforts in an October 8 update. The developer update post starts of by acknowledging the outcry for additional measures to prevent cheating.

Embark says that, in addition to Denuvo kernel-level anti-cheat and Anybrain detection solutions, it has also been adding in-house cheat detection models that use machine learning to detect cheats. It has also been testing Elytra anti-cheat detection in The Finals, which it plans to implement into Arc Raiders in the long term. In addition to the new cheat detection methods being implemented, Embark Studios has updated its anti-cheat policy so that any first-time cheaters are perma-banned from the game.

Following report surfaced that Riot's Vanguard anti-cheat was apparently soft-bricking certain hardware often used for cheating, Riot has updated Vanguard with a new on-demand mode that allows users to disable the anti-cheat mode from launching on boot. According to a blog post about the update, on-demand mode will only launch Vanguard when it's needed by a game like League of Legends or Valorant. This should theoretically allow for faster boot times and slightly reduced system resource usage on Windows PCs with Vanguard installed. However, Vanguard on-demand mode is only possible in cases wherein player hardware meets a set of security standards that Riot calls a Vanguard Pre-Check.

The Pre-Check, and thus Vanguard On-Demand mode, requires that players are running Windows 11 version 25H2 or newer and enable Secure Boot, TPM 2.0. IOMMU, VBS, and Hypervisor-Protected Code Integrity. All of these security measures basically allow Riot to ensure that no kernel-level cheats have been enabled between when the system booted and when Vanguard was launched. Riot says that around 35% of Vanguard user systems are already in a "secured-core state," meaning they meet all the requirements and will be able to enable On-Demand mode with the next Vanguard update, however, those who have one or more of the aforementioned UEFI settings disabled will have to go through the Pre-Check before being able to enable On-Demand.

With Marathon and its upcoming server slam event almost literally just around the corner by now, details have started to emerge about the game's server and anti-cheat configurations. In a new post on the @MarathonTheGame official X account, Bungie has explained the details of Marathon's anti-cheat system. Aside from both kernel- and user-level anti-cheat on clients, it was confirmed that Marathon will have server-side fog of war that will protect against wall hacks, ESP cheats, and loot revealers. The game will also use dedicated servers with authority on key combat and looting actions, meaning the servers will be protected against client-side interference. The anti-cheat announcement also mentions that in the case of a crash or connection loss, players will be able to rejoin the game as soon as the connection is re-established, although they will have to rely on teammates to protect their character.

Most notably, though, Bungie announced that any cheaters caught cheating in Marathon will receive a permanent ban from the game. While an authoritative stance has been well received by the community, there are concerns over BattlEye potentially tagging false positives and banning players who weren't guilty of cheating—an issue that was recently brought up by the Apex Legends community when a player was falsely banned after the new Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike seemingly triggered a ban threshold for gameplay automation.

In a rather unfortunate throwback to the early days of the Hall effect gaming keyboard boom, it seems as though the new Haptic Inductive Trigger System in the Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike gaming mouse is resulting in players getting permanently banned from Apex Legends for cheating. This is according to a new post on X by Iaroslav Mamalat, who shared a screenshot of an Apex Legends ban report that claims the player used gameplay enhancements.

An email received by the same player reads: "We observed: Gameplay enhancement. This means using unauthorized methods to enhance in-game performance by removing gameplay constraints or improving in-game abilities (e.g. weapon, movement, or item enhancements)." This potentially refers to the use of rapid trigger technology in the Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike, but there are other reports in the replies to the X post that suggest it may simply have been a false ban, since similar has happened to other players who weren't using the new Logitech gaming mouse. Curiously, EA doesn't actually ordinarily ban rapid trigger keyboards in Apex Legends, but it isn't uncommon for game studios to ban SOCD, especially in competitive FPS games. Some theories online suggest that EA's anti-cheat may be using timing as a way to detect macro inputs, and that rapid trigger on the Superstrike may be resulting in click spamming that exceeds that timing threshold, resulting in a ban.

Update Feb 23rd: It has been confirmed by a Respawn team member in the r/apexlegends subreddit that this was a false ban, although it was seemingly still the result of the Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike triggering a minimum threshold.

Rocket League, the popular competitive vehicular soccer game, will soon be getting an anti-cheat implementation, nearly a decade after its original launch. Psyonix announced on the game's official X account that it would be implementing Easy Anti-Cheat in Rocket League in an April update. The justifications for anti-cheat is to prevent DDoS attacks, improve bot detection, and more effectively ban cheaters in games. The announcement comes with a few caveats, though—specifically relating to how the addition of anti-cheat will affect competitive gameplay, offline LAN multiplayer, and gaming on Linux.

Unlike many high-profile EAC implementations, Rocket League will maintain compatibility with the Valve Steam Deck, and by extension other Linux gaming PCs and the upcoming Steam Machine via the Proton compatibility layer. Players will be able to disable EAC for offline play, in cases like local LAN multiplayer, or split-screen multiplayer. Additionally, the EAC implementation will eventually allow players in custom tournaments to run tournament-specific mods, and players will be able to run custom community content with EAC enabled at launch. The announcement also mentions "custom mod-inspired content" coming to Rocket League in the same April update.

Anti-cheat has become a hot-button topic since the launch of Valve's Steam Deck, with many developers now moving to add Linux support to their games to cater to users of Valve's Linux-powered gaming handheld. That said, there are still a handful of large game studios that refuse to accommodate Linux gamers with their multiplayer game launches. With the game's March launch rapidly approaching, the Steam page has officially gone live, revealing that Marathon will use BattlEye kernel-level anti-cheat, which will seemingly rule out compatibility with the Valve Steam Deck and other Linux distributions.

Like many other anti-cheat models, BattlEye does have a Linux compatibility mode, but it's up to the developer to implement support for anti-cheat. Bungie's only other game to use BattlEye is Destiny 2, according to GamingOnLinux, and that does not support Linux—likely an omission based on potential additional workload that would come from supporting Linux, or the perception that Linux is rife with cheaters. Combine that with the fact that there has been no mention of Steam Deck compatibility in the developer's launch announcement, it seems unlikely that Marathon will be playable on Linux. According to the latest Steam Survey, Linux market share continued its slow upward trajectory to 3.8% of the total Steam user base, while Windows 11 lost 0.56%.

With the launch of Battlefield 6, we started to see a move towards anti-cheat implementations that require BIOS-level security features like Secure Boot and TPM in order to verify system trust. The next confirmed game launching with anti-cheat that requires both Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 is Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. While Battlefield 6 gives users an error if they try to launch a game without these features enabled, and Call of Duty will likely do the same, Steam appears to not want to leave this to chance.

The latest Steam client beta update adds capability to detect whether Secure Boot and TPM are enabled. For the time being, this will be limited to the System Information dialogue in the Help menu, but it will likely start to be featured somewhat more prominently if the anti-cheat requirements become more commonplace. Steam will also collect this information in the Steam Hardware and Software Survey. It's also unclear when the feature will arrive in the mainline Steam client.

EA is the proud home to some of the biggest, most exciting interactive entertainment experiences on the planet. Experiences that bring people together every day, offering hundreds of millions of players and fans around the globe new ways to play, create, watch, and connect in, around, and beyond our games. Nothing ruins that fun as fast as cheating. That's why we are excited to introduce EA Javelin Anticheat—the evolution of our flagship anticheat solution, which prevents, identifies, and addresses bad experiences wherever possible, and is a pivotal part of our defense-in-depth strategy. Since its initial launch in 2022, our anticheat solution has supported over 28 million PC players with fair play in over 2.2 billion PC gaming sessions across our largest franchises including EA SPORTS FC, EA SPORTS Madden NFL, Battlefield, F1, EA SPORTS WRC, and Plants vs. Zombies.

The EA Javelin Anticheat brand was carefully chosen to communicate the core attributes of the solution: defense, strength, and agility. One where millions of players and fans around the globe can trust to ensure the integrity of EA games is preserved, allowing for fun-and fair-interactive entertainment. "Our mission is to foster a gaming environment where skill and sportsmanship are the only paths to victory. EA Javelin Anticheat is a testament to our commitment to fair play and integrity."—Elise Murphy, Head of Game Security.

In something of a surprise, Epic Games today announced that it is working with Qualcomm to integrate support for the Qualcomm Snapdragon X CPUs into Easy Anti-Cheat, officially adding Fortnite to the list of games that are available for Windows on Arm. According to the post announcing the upcoming change to EAC, support for Windows on Arm in Fortnite will arrive before the end of 2025. Until the EAC update arrives, EAC will block Windows on Arm players from playing games like Fortnite because Windows on Arm devices use Prism emulation and translation to run x86 apps on Arm hardware. At the time of writing, the unofficial Windows on Arm app compatibility tracker lists a total of 675 apps as compatible with the Arm SoCs, 121 of which are games. This is compared to 17,955 games that are verified or playable on the Steam Deck via Valve's Proton translation layer, according to ProtonDB.

Expanding support for EAC to Windows on Arm could also allow games like Apex Legends and Fall Guys to run on Arm devices. This news comes in spite of the slow adoption of Windows on Arm devices, which Epic Games CEO, Tim Sweeney infamously quoted as the reason for not supporting the Steam Deck or Linux as a platform. "If we only had a few more programmers. It's the Linux problem. I love the Steam Deck hardware. Valve has done an amazing job there; I wish they would get to tens of millions of users, at which point it would actually make sense to support it." However, market share for Windows on Arm still appears to fall short of the market share Linux commands in the desktop OS space.

The next evolution of Rainbow Six Siege was revealed today at the Siege X Showcase. Launching on June 10, Siege X will introduce Dual Front, a dynamic new 6v6 game mode, as well as deliver foundational upgrades to the core game (including visual enhancements, an audio overhaul, rappel upgrades, and more) alongside revamped player protection systems, and free access that will allow players to experience the unique tactical action of Rainbow Six Siege at no cost. Plus, from now through March 19, a free Dual Front closed beta is live on PC via Ubisoft Connect, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, giving players a first chance to play the exciting new mode. Read on to find out how to get into the beta and try Dual Front for yourself.

Dual Front
Taking place on an entirely new map called District, Dual Front is a new mode that pits two teams of six Operators against each other in a fight to attack enemy sectors while defending their own. Players can choose from a curated roster of 35 Operators—both Attackers and Defenders - that will rotate twice per season. During each match, two objective points are live at all times, one in each team's lane; teams must plant a sabotage kit (akin to a defuser) in the opposing team's objective room and defend it in order to capture the sector and progress towards the final objective: the Base. Sabotage the Base to claim victory, but don't forget to defend your own sector, lest your foes progress faster than you and beat you to it.

On March 4, Grand Theft Auto V on PC is getting a free upgrade with sought-after features previously only available in the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of GTA Online—including all the latest vehicles and performance upgrades available at Hao's Special Works, animal encounters, and access to purchase a GTA+ Membership—along with improved graphics options, faster loading times, and more. All players who currently own GTAV on PC will be able to upgrade to this new version for free, with the ability to migrate your Story Mode and Online progress.

New Features on PC
Once upgraded, current PC players—along with anyone playing the game for the first time—will have access to a full suite of much-requested GTA Online upgrades previously only available on the latest consoles. This upgraded version of GTA V on PC also features all of our recent player experience improvements for GTA Online, including kernel-based anti-cheat protections and proactive voice chat moderation to help keep GTA Online fun for everyone.

Dear Operator, to maintain a fair gaming environment and improve your experience, G.T.I. Security is committed to fighting every kind of cheat. We previously announced our efforts against DMA cheats. Now, we're introducing our measures against VT cheats.

How VT Cheats Differ from Traditional Cheats
Unlike DMA cheats, VT cheats operate at the hypervisor level and leverage virtualization technology, giving them higher privileges than the security systems. As a result, VT cheats can virtualize the operating system before the game even starts, thus leaving no traces in the computer's actual operating environment. With its built-in KernelBase anti-cheat toolkit, Delta Force is able to detect and neutralize VT cheats quickly and accurately.

Valve's latest third-person MOBA-like hero shooter, Deadlock, has had a pretty serious cheater problem, despite still being an invite-only public test. While the game has thus far operated on a player reporting system to identify and punish cheaters, a recent game patch has introduced a rather comical—and seemingly effective—anti-cheat system that can either ban cheating players or turn them into frogs until the end of the match.

Valve says that the new anti-cheat system is set up to be fairly conservative at the moment to avoid any false positives. Aside from the new anti-cheat, Deadlock's September 26 update introduced a new hero, Mirage, whose design and gameplay seem rooted in the jinn from Arabic myths (aka djinn or genie) and added a pretty vast collection of gameplay updates, balances, and quality-of-life improvements throughout the game.

Hi everyone, my name is Peter Lindgren and I'm the Technical Director of Helldivers 2. I've been making games at Arrowhead since the Magicka days and I've been involved in every game we've released to date. I will do my best in this post to address the concerns and confusion that's come up recently regarding the choice of Anti-Cheat software in Helldivers 2. So, let's start off with the more urgent questions:

Is GameGuard a kernel-level / administrator-priviledge anti-cheat?
Yes, GameGuard is a "kernel-level", aka rootkit, anti-cheat. Most anti-cheat run at "kernel-level", especially all of the popular ones. It's unfortunately one of the more effective ways to combat cheating. There are some anti-cheat systems that can run in "user-mode," but they are much less effective and tend to be cracked very quickly, resulting in widespread cheating.

The Call of Duty RICOCHET Anti-Cheat team announced earlier this month that their newly updated system was capable of detecting "third-party hardware devices that alter the Call of Duty gameplay experience" - this makes reference to a plethora of gaming input modification devices including the Cronus Zen/Max, XIM Apex and FPS Boost Strike Pack. All readily available from direct stores, Amazon and various e-tailers. These hardware modules are hooked up to a gamepad or mouse plus keyboard combination, and allow the user to bypass the legitimate control input detection on the host hardware, be it a games console or PC. Stock scripts and macros can be utilized - for example - to boost in-game aim assist to unprecedented levels, mitigate weapon recoil, and add support for mouse and keyboard in otherwise non-compatible games. Anti-cheat software suites have been unable to detect the extra layer of code, since it runs on an external device - until now.

CoD's security team elaborates on their cheat spotter: "Since our previous progress report, TeamRICOCHET has developed and tested a detection for third-party hardware devices that alter the Call of Duty gameplay experience. These devices act as a passthrough for controllers on PC and console and, when used improperly or maliciously, can provide a player with the ability to gain an unfair gameplay advantage, such as reducing or eliminating recoil. Testing is complete: This detection is deployed globally on all platforms. Users across PC or console who are detected to be using third-party hardware devices to impact the Modern Warfare II or Warzone 2.0 gameplay experience will first see a warning about the improper use of these devices..."

Doom Eternal has been review-bombed over the weekend, as disgruntled players took to Steam to show their thoughts on the the game's Update 1. The issue isn't in the update itself or it changing core gameplay functions; rather, it's based on the inclusion of Denuvo's Anti-cheat mechanism for the multiplayer component of the game, which is also running in the single-player campaign - considered to be the core of any Doom game.

Players are against the inclusion of Denuvo and its monitoring subroutines due to it having a a kernel-level service that monitors gameplay. Gamers are noting performance decreases, framerate drops, crashes, and deleted Saves after the game's latest update. Others are voicing their discontent at the fact that Denuvo has been added post-purchase of the game; players that might not choose to buy the game over that detail have already bought it, and refunds are apparently not being entertained. Doom Eternal's previous 90% user review score on Steam now stand at a measly 50%, which is absolutely undeserving of the game itself. Doom may be Eternal, but its community feedback sure isn't.

In what is likely to cause some hand wringing or chuckles depending on upon your personality, Microsoft's Windows 10 Insider Preview Slow Ring (beta versions of the OS) has not seen a new release in months. This is due to a common Anti-cheat software running amok and causing GSODs (replacement for BSODs in preview builds). The problem itself has existed for a few months and needs to be fixed by the creators of the software as noted by Chief of the Windows Insider program, Dona Sarkar, on twitter. Apparently, this isn't something Microsoft can fix due to how the software itself functions. Essentially the unspecified anti-cheat software runs in kernel mode and tampers with various aspects of the OS that it is not supposed to tamper with. While it is possible, the software is using allowed hooks in order to function. It is also possible that in the process it is damaging kernel data structures and code. This situation is likely to stir up debate on how effective anti-cheat software is considering it seldom seems to stop determined cheaters and as of now is causing the OS crash and is proving to be a thorn in Microsoft's side.

Still, this has more ramifications than just some system crashes or a software company that needs to edit some code. It directly results in Microsoft having to delay Preview releases. Since these Slow Ring builds can't be tested or validated. Pair that with the fact Microsoft's testing of Windows 10 builds is already considered lackluster with many bugs and issues going unresolved and you end up with a rather grim situation. After all, it was only a few short months ago that the October 2018 update was released after suffering numerous problems and delays. If issues like that continue, it seems the April 2019 update could be delayed as well. To avoid this and to get something done, Microsoft will be pushing out a Slow Ring build to systems that do not have the offending anti-cheat software. Better late than never but you would have thought that this solution would have been implemented sooner.