Major Apex Legends tournament postponed as pros fall victim to hacks mid-game, leading voluntary cheat watchdog to warn others off EA games for now

By Hirun Cryer
published

The Apex Legends regional finals were upended

Apex Legends Season 14
(Image credit: EA)

Apex Legends' regional finals have been disrupted by multiple players being hacked mid-game, leading one expert to warn against playing other EA-published games until the situation is resolved.

The Apex Legends regional finals took place last weekend, but things didn't go according to plan. Seen just below, two pro players—Genburten and ImperialHal—were hacked right in the middle of the regional finals. The former was able to see players through walls and terrain, and the latter was gifted an aimbot by the hacker themselves. 

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"I can see everyone!" Genburten says in the clip above before quitting the match. "I have aimbot right now!" ImperialHal realizes in the other clip above. The pro says he couldn't shoot, and while he attempted to play out the rest of the round, the match was later abandoned. 

It's unclear who's responsible for hacking the two pro Apex Legends players. A fair few claims are circulating online about who could be responsible for the hack, but at the time of writing, no one has stepped forward to claim responsibility. 

The Anti-Cheat Police Department, just below, recommends that players steer clear of any EA-published games until the issue has been resolved. The anti-cheat expert also suggests that those who were participating in the Apex Legends regional finals at the time secure their accounts by changing their passwords, including Discord and email accounts. 

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However, it doesn't appear there's any issue with the Easy Anti-Cheat software. Below, a representative of the EAC software says they're "confident that there is no RCE vulnerability within EAC being exploited." It appears that you can safely play games featuring the EAC software right now, at least according to those working with the software. 

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A few hours after this all went down, the official Apex Legends eSports body confirmed that the North American finals had been postponed. We don't currently know when the regional finals will return, but the organization's official Twitter account says it'll "share more information soon."

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Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.