Cheating in games has risen over the years with gamers finding new ways to obtain loot items and shortcuts for beating other players. Since 2010, Pokémon Go developer Niantic has been observing the behavior of cheaters and developing a system to deal with them. It says it now has the capacity and technology it needs for ramping up enforcement.
The initial action was a reaction to gamers’ feedback stating they’re fed up with cheaters. Niantic responded at the time that it would do what it could to put cheaters in their place. In the company’s latest blog, it seems it’s now in a place where it can take action based on player behavior.
The new system focused on a broad overview over the past year to assess the player’s behavior, especially where cheating was suspected. Thanks to this evaluation, Niantic is able to detect cheating within moments of the activity taking place. It says the detection will happen faster in time to come.
I’m not surprised to see the sudden statement appear. We first reported that Call of Duty cheaters would see their weapons confiscated. Not long thereafter, we noted that Bungie won a Destiny 2 lawsuit against a cheat distributor. It looks like everyone is finally cracking down on this behavior.
Niantic isn’t waiting to take action against cheaters. Any accounts it finds in violation of the Pokémon Go rules are in danger of this new enforcement system with immediate effect. It will be interesting to see how this will apply to the new Pokémon Go in-person raids the developer is implementing once again.
