94.2 per cent of recently banned ‘Apex Legends’ players were on PS4

A developer at Respawn Entertainment has shared details behind a recent ban wave in Apex Legends, revealing that the vast majority of banned players were on the PS4.

The ban wave was first reported by PSU and broken down on Twitter by Conor Ford, a security analyst at Respawn Entertainment.

In the following breakdown, Ford reveals that 1965 of these players – 94.2 per cent of the total bans – were accessing Apex Legends through a PS4. Meanwhile, the combined total of PC, Switch and Xbox bans reached only 121.

Ford tweeted that 2086 players were banned “for abuse of an RP loss forgiveness exploit (dashboarding) and for abusing “a matchmaking exploit allowing high-rank players into bronze lobby to farm.”

Banned 2,086 players early this morning for abuse of an RP loss forgiveness exploit (dashboarding) and abuse of a matchmaking exploit allowing high-rank players into Bronze lobby to farm. Breakdown is as follows:

PC-44
PS4- 1,965
Switch- 15
Xbox- 62

🔨♥️

— Conor Ford / Hideouts (@RSPN_Hideouts) July 30, 2021

Dashboarding refers to players who force-close their game to avoid receiving ranked points (RP) penalties upon losing. The second exploit was allowing high-rank players to access much lower ranking lobbies, allowing them to get more kills and farm experience quicker.

Ford further explains that these are bans from matchmaking, and each of the bans varies in length based on the “extent of abuse”.

As Ford points outs, these players will miss “the opening of a new season”, which will bring a series of major buffs and nerfs to Apex Legends, as well as dramatic changes to the World’s Edge map.

Season 10 will also introduce an LMG that can destroy doors as well as Seer, a new legend who will “use sensors and drones to hunt with surgical precision”.

In other news, PlayStation has pulled the plug on a planned limited-edition Mcdonald’s PS5 controller.

The restaurant planned to release the controllers to celebrate the first Mcdonald’s opening in Australia 50 years ago, however a statement from the company revealed “PlayStation has not authorised the use of its controller in promotional materials”.