The Battlefield 6 Beta's Hacking Problem Shows the Difficulty in Playing Cat and Mouse with Cheaters

The Battlefield 6 open beta has come to a close, leaving behind a trail of frustration for players who encountered cheating scum during their gaming sessions. Despite EA's efforts to implement a robust anti-cheat system, including the introduction of Secure Boot, a BIOS-level security feature in Windows, reports of hackers have been flooding online forums and social media channels.

The beta's impressive player count of over 500,000 on PC alone was tempered by widespread accounts of cheating, ranging from classic wallhacks, speed hacks, and aimbots to cheats that reduced recoil or displayed enemy health and weapon information. In response to these concerns, an EA forum post attributed to the company's anti-cheat team touted successes in tracking and catching cheaters, although it also acknowledged that Secure Boot was "not, and was not intended to be a silver bullet".

"The feature is also just one component of the game's wider AC protection, named Javelin, which boasts of having stopped 330,000 cheating and tampering attempts," the post stated. However, the numbers also suggested that Battlefield 6 faces an enormous number of malicious actors, with only three successful interventions for every five players.

The reality is that anti-cheat systems are a lot like Premier League goalkeepers: you can keep out attempt after attempt, but let just one through and people will think you're rubbish. The biggest challenge facing multiplayer developers isn't the pursuit of creating a truly hacker-free game, but rather expectation management – what's a publicly acceptable proportion of hackers to breach the system, and how much can you ask of rule-abiding players before they start getting genuinely pissed off by your AC requirements?

The introduction of Secure Boot as a requirement for Windows has been met with mixed reactions. While some see it as a necessary measure to prevent cheating, others have complained about the hassle and complexity involved in enabling it, especially if you're not familiar with BIOS-level security features.

There have also been reports of user-end problems after the fact, including instances where players were booted permanently out of games due to their operating system's inability to meet certain security requirements. The most ironic case being that Battlefield 6's anti-cheat can actually clash with Valorant's, like two hench bouncers trying to fit through the same doorframe.

Developers seem to be weighing security more heavily than convenience at present, which is a trade-off that's becoming increasingly common in the gaming industry. However, if Battlefield 6's anti-cheat system can broadly work and players perceive it as effective, then Secure Boot might not be the deal-breaker some feared it would be.

Ultimately, the goal for developers should be to keep quiet the cheaters while still protecting their games from malicious activity. It's a delicate balancing act that requires ongoing effort and improvement, but one that is essential for maintaining a fair and enjoyable gaming experience for all players.