China has a black market for cheats in hit game Apex Legends even though it has yet to be launched there
- Cheat tools that give players unfair advantages, such as seeing through walls, are already up for sale online in China
China is already home to a thriving black market for cheats and hacks in video games – and that is also true for new battle royale hit Apex Legends even though the game has yet to be launched in the country.
Illegal software that gives players unfair advantages in Apex Legends is now up for sale on the Chinese internet, just as its developer is going after cheaters exploiting the game two weeks into its launch.
A search of “Apex support” on Taobao Marketplace, China’s biggest online retail platform, points to more than 200 vendors selling cheats for the latest hit from American gaming company Electronic Arts. The software claims to enable players, among other things, to see through walls and automatically aim weapons at opponents.
“We will work with rights holders to remove third-party product listings violating laws or our product-listing policy on Taobao Marketplace,” said a spokesman for the online retail platform owned by Alibaba Group Holding. New York-listed Alibaba is the parent company of the South China Morning Post.
Last week, Apex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment announced on the online forum Reddit that the studio has banned more than 16,000 cheaters since the game’s February 4 launch for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows personal computers.
The game is a free-to-play battle royale title that lets players compete in a squad of three, each choosing a character with a special trait. Similar to Fortnite and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, players have to scavenge for guns, armour and other items to survive and be the last one standing in a slowly shrinking battlefield.
