PUBG Reveals Huge Number of Cheaters Banned in 2023

Developer PUBG Studios has revealed that it banned nearly 3.2 million players in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds during 2023. The announcement came as part of a new post that outlined PUBG's plans for 2024 and celebrated its seventh anniversary.

Like most popular multiplayer FPS games, cheating has been a persistent issue within PUBG. However, the issue is particularly frustrating in a game like this one that sees users play long-form matches while slowly gathering loot, only to be instantly eliminated by someone using an aimbot, wallhack, or other third-party tool. PUBG has upgraded its anti-cheat system over the years, but like most anti-cheats, it has mostly been unable to keep up with the newest exploits. However, this didn't stop PUBG Studios from banning a massive number of violators last year.

PUBG's developer banned almost 3.2 million cheaters during 2023, which is a 33% increase over 2022's figure of almost 2.4 million. PUBG Studios says that the improved result is partially thanks to new detection methods that utilize machine learning. Throughout 2023, the developer also focused on client vulnerabilities and countering violators who figured out ways to bypass hardware bans. However, PUBG Studios also admitted that it has plenty more work ahead of it before it can come close to truly defeating cheaters within the game. To do so, it plans to improve current initiatives, like the use of new machine-learning technology, to stay ahead of cheating software.

PUBG Studios explained that machine-learning anti-cheat tools are especially effective at identifying aimbots and ESPs, two of the more popular types of cheats. The developer also stated that it's working on improving the detection of keyboard-and-mouse users on console, which is another prevalent issue. As previously mentioned, these announcements were a part of PUBG's 2024 roadmap that outlined plenty of exciting features coming to the game in the future.

The roadmap revealed that PUBG will transition to Unreal