Apex Legends has issued over 2,000 permanent bans to players using XIM cheating devices while playing the battle royale title.
The recent crackdown on players using third-party devices follows on from another ban wave impacting those using Titan cheat devices to gain an unfair advantage during matches.
Revealed on February 18th, the ban wave is part of Apex Legends’ continued efforts to combat the use of third-party cheating peripherals designed to bypass existing anti-cheat measures. Since the title began targeting those using peripherals, the battle royale title has issued over 3,000 bans since the start of 2026, according to developer Respawn Entertainment.
In September 2025, Respawn Entertainment updated the title’s anti-cheat measures in its efforts to prevent cheaters from negatively impacting casual and competitive matches. Since the launch of Season 23, over 400,000 accounts have received permanent bans thanks to improved bot detection and catching those using anti-recoil exploits.
February’s ban wave comes following the launch of the title’s Season 28 update on February 10th. The latest Apex Legends season introduces a wealth of changes, including the addition of Hardlight Meshes and a rework of Fuse’s ultimate ability in a bid to shake up the existing meta.
From a competitive standpoint, further bans are a positive step forward as attention turns to the start of the sixth Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) season. The season begins on February 28th with the first regional Online Open tournaments that decide eight teams which qualify for the first ALGS Pro League split in April.
Further Third-Party Cheating Crackdowns
Apex Legends isn’t the only title looking to combat players using third-party cheats. On February 3rd, the Call of Duty franchise unveiled new measures to prevent players from utilising devices that improve reaction times and enhance their aim through stronger aim assist.
As a result, the measures aim to target accounts using the devices across Call of Duty: Black Ops 7‘s and Call of Duty: Warzone‘s Ranked Play modes.
Ensuring hackers are unable to get the upper hand is crucial to ensuring a level playing field across all online gaming and esports competitions. So far, it seems the new measures implemented by Respawn Entertainment are already making an impact.
