Cheating remains a serious problem in online games, particularly in Battlefield 6, where a large number of users have already been banned. However, the responsibility lies not only with those who want to look better, but also with cheat developers, whose annual income from them reaches $70 million. This is reported by TechSpot, citing researchers from the Universities of Birmingham and Worcester.
Researchers have identified about 80 websites selling cheats for online games. These sites have tens or even hundreds of thousands of active paying customers and generate revenue ranging from $12 million to $73 million annually.
Cheat developers earn more when their software is more complex. While game developers are inventing new ways to detect and block attackers, even at the kernel level, cheat writers are constantly improving and finding ways to bypass any protections.
Depending on the complexity of the anti-cheat system in the games, the cost of cheats can vary from $10 to $240 per month. At the same time, the popularity of the games has less impact on the overall cost.
The aforementioned Battlefield 6 requires players to enable Windows Secure Boot, which has caused quite a bit of outrage, but has probably helped to combat the problem to some extent. Despite the game still only being in beta, Electronic Arts has already managed to ban over 336,000 players using SPEAR's Javelin system. However, even that doesn't stop cheaters completely.
The most popular site among unscrupulous players is Engine Owning, which has about 500,000 monthly visitors. It offers cheats that cost between $10 and $20.