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Ubisoft Starts Issuing The Division Permabans For First-Time Cheaters
Apparently, a two-week ban for cheating hasn’t been enough to dissuade some Division players. Ubisoft is stepping up its efforts, and has announced that it will start handing out permanent bans on first offense.
Last month, the publisher “took action” against 30,000 accounts, dishing out approximately 3,800 permanent bans. Additional waves of bans are coming, and Ubisoft will announce when they’ve happened.
The company says that it is seeing improvement in the game as cheaters are removed from the population. “We are committed to constantly improve your experience in the game, and this begins with ensuring a positive and fair environment free of noxious players willingly violating the rules,” the company says. “We will take all steps necessary to track down cheaters and make sure they cannot spoil your enjoyment of the game.”
[Source: Ubisoft]
Our Take
As the video game industry transitions from a product model to one that is more akin to service, customer support needs to change. Publishers will always have to fight against those willing to cheat, but as developers get more used to how players interact with live games, perhaps we’ll see better up-front enforcement. Zero tolerance works, provided there aren’t false positives that impact rule-abiding players.
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