Apex Legends' eSports event was suddenly halted on Sunday evening after two players claimed of been hacked live during the tournament's finals.
(Photo : Apex Legends/Respawn Entertainment/EA Games)
In an X (formerly Twitter) post, Apex Legends' eSports account announced that it will be postponing its Apex Legends Global Series after determining that the "competitive integrity" of the game was "compromised."
Due to the competitive integrity of this series being compromised, we have made the decision to postpone the NA finals at this time.
We will share more information soon.— Apex Legends Esports (@PlayApexEsports) March 18, 2024
In the clips shared by two notable players, Genburten and ImperialHal, during the game's live stream, show a cheat command prompt suddenly popping up on their screens.
The cheat tool, labeled "TSM HALA HOOK," gave Genburten a "wallhack" and Hal an aimbot. Both players immediately alerted the game's organizer before quickly leaving the game.
So i was given Aimbot but it was just me playing on Controller all good guys. Nerf controller! pic.twitter.com/2ztHtoOnRB
— TSM ImperialHal (@ImperialHal) March 18, 2024
Both "wallhack," which allows players to see others even through walls, and aimbots, or automatic aim assistants, are prohibited in the game's policies and in the tournament, which has a $5 million total prize pool.
A brief second during the time the cheating prompt was displayed, attributing the hack to "Destroyer2009 &R4andom."
EA Games and Respawn Entertainment, the game's developers, have yet to release an announcement regarding the alleged hacking.
Also Read: Insomniac Games Hacking Reveals X-Men Games Will be Exclusive on PlayStation Until 2035
EA Games Questioned for Security Integrity
Following the incident during the Apex Legends tournament, EA is currently under fire as players and developers cast doubt on the company's security integrity.
The Apex Legends community has already alerted other people to be wary of other EA games in case the hack was done via the game publisher's end.
The tournament's anti-cheating enforcers, Anti-Cheat Police Department, already clarified that the hacking breach was not done via a vulnerability on its side.
Other EA online multiplayer titles include the FIFA series, Battlefield, The Sims, and Madden NFL.
Related Article: Hacker May Have Leaked Activision Employee Data and Upcoming Game Details
More Potential Hackings in Gaming Community
The supposed hacking during the ALGS follows the trend of cyberattacks in major game companies.
Just a few months ago, Insomniac Games, the developer of the Marvel's Spider-Man series, were breached, resulting in its employee's data and future projects to be leaked on the dark web.
As of writing, no game studios have yet given the hackers ransom money to recover stolen data.
