With 32% of gamers admitting to cheating at least once and 77% of players being likely to leave the game if there were cheaters, it’s only natural that gaming studios big and small are putting more effort into cheat prevention to protect their titles from unfair practices. But with the current choice on the market, there comes the question: how to tell an excellent anti-cheat solution provider from an average one?
In this article, we’re discussing the top 5 features that you should look for when on the hunt for anti-cheat software.
A top cheat prevention software will offer you both its game cyber security technology and service, meaning that it will proactively investigate emerging cheats to understand how they work and how the cheating landscape is evolving. Its cloud-based decision-making mechanism will proactively learn what happens to the protected game, spot attempted or successful cheats in real time and inform you about it immediately.
If your anti-cheat solution provider is only reacting to flags raised by its clients, well, it’s simply not sufficient!
You and only you are in charge of your gaming studio and its releases – any external game cyber security service you subscribe to should empower your business, not limit it. So, your anti-cheat technology provider should not take action on your behalf – it should only monitor and mark players as cheaters and inform you about it in real-time. Every time a cheat has been detected and confirmed, you should receive all evidence that supports the claim and be allowed to decide what to do with it. In the end, you know better what your policies are.
Blocking or kicking dishonest players out of the game on your behalf is not very empowering. You should therefore avoid providers who practice that.
Buying access to a quality solution also means buying access to quality customer support. You should always be able to reach out for help when you need it and your anti-cheat solution provider should always respond in a timely and professional manner. So, when looking for one, make sure it also provides you with a proper level of service, defined in the Service Level Agreement (SLA) part of your contract. A golden standard for SLA is providing support 24/7, no matter what.
Your quality game needs quality cheat prevention at all times, so never settle for anything less.
Anti-cheating technology requires collecting some important data on players, their machines, etc., as well as on the cheats themselves. This is valuable knowledge that should only be used for cheat prevention purposes and not shared with anyone. So, when on the hunt for the perfect anti-cheat solution for your studio, make sure that your partner of choice has no conflict of interest, i.e., it’s not using data gained while operating its anti-cheat business for building its own games that end up competing with your titles. That’s simply unfair.
Anti-cheat solutions are supposed to do what it says on the can. And this doesn’t just mean stopping cheaters as they pop up and act. Stopping reoffenders is just as important for your game cyber security – you don’t want them to come back to your title and ruin it for everyone again. So, when looking for an anti-cheat partner, ask what their capabilities against spotting and blocking reoffenders are. Are these tracked in any way? The leading anti-cheat solution has the infrastructure to flag and manage banned cheaters trying to create a new account, so they are brought to your attention quickly.
As you can see, excellent cheat prevention goes beyond just providing a service. Sure, going for a well-known anti-cheat provider is your “safe” option, but will it make your games truly safe?
To start a conversation about applying serious anti-cheat protection to your next title, click here.
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