What Happened
Recently, part of an Apex Legends game was videoed and then published online. In this video, two top ranked players can be seen being knocked down by another gamer. Soon after the game crashes. When the game reconnects, the two knocked down players can be seen standing over the gamer that hit them. The latter was the player taking the video. This led the gamer to accuse the pair of carrying out a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. Players ranked among the top 750 players in their respective platform are known as Apex Predators in the game. The two players accused of carrying out the DDoS attack on the Xbox server were ranked fourth and fifth. During the DDoS attack the Xbox server was overwhelmed by requests sent from the pair causing it to crash. This locked all other players out of the game, but not the pair. Consequently, they were accused of crashing the server when they realized they were losing. And then manipulating the game allowing them to win the ranked match instead. The gamer states in a post published along with the video “Undeniable proof that the #4 and #6 Xbox Preds are DDoSing servers after we knock them.” Given their high placement in Ranked mode, it is alleged that the pair had DDoSed their way to the top.
DDoSing on the Rise in Apex Legends
DDoS attacks on the console version of Apex Legends appear to have become a widespread problem. According to the post, ranked games for consoles are becoming “literally unplayable with 5 of every 6 games being DDoSed”. DDoS attacks are prevalent in both Ranked and Public lobbies and have become a source of frustration for many players. Respawn Entertainment, the development studio behind Apex Legends, seem to be aware of the DDoSing problem. Conor Ford, security analyst at Respawn, recently intimated on Twitter that there would be a crackdown on the practice. He tweeted “Console reckoning for DDoSers and DDoS customers incoming.” The cheating pair in the video have not been named. However, Respawn has stated that the two have been banned from further participation in the game. Furthermore, Respawn has stated that they are confident that their method of tracking the DDoS attacks is effective. And that the proper individuals are being punished. However, many of these cheaters make it easy to catch them as they give themselves ridiculous kill counts per game. Some past cheaters have given themselves over 50 kills in one game. Consequently, the bans often affect high ranking players.
