Gaming News

Escape From Tarkov Dev Issues Update On Cheating

On Apr 06, 2026 10:42 pm, by NuclearCoffee

When it comes to live-service games, publishers and developers are always trying to stay one step ahead of cheaters, often banning bad actors outright. However, when it comes to banned players in the massively popular extraction shooter Escape from Tarkov, contrary to popular belief, not everyone who’s been banned was actually involved in cheating.

In fact, according to newly-released data from Battlestate Games, only 54 percent of banned players were cheaters. The rest? Well, the reasons vary.

As part of a larger anti-cheat update to coincide with the game’s 1.0 release, Battlestate Games revealed that it will now “step away from posting the lists of the cheaters banned and instead will try answering most hot topics surrounding cheater combating as well as provide more in-depth statistics regarding the amount of bans issued within a certain time frame.”

Battlestate Games

Still, that didn’t stop the developer from offering a breakdown of its bans.

54 percent of bans were due to cheaters.
22 percent of bans were due to RMT sellers and buyers. (RMT stands for real-money trading, which in Tarkov means exchanging real money for virtual goods and services)
The remaining 24 percent of bans were due to “Other” reasons.
- Other is being defined as automated leveling bots, accounts using scripts and other prohibited software.

“Anti-cheat is always an ongoing effort as, with the development of the gaming industry, more companies enter the market with a clear goal to make money from cheating,” Battlestate wrote.

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So What’s Next?

Beyond providing an in-depth look at how and why people were banned, Battlestate also outlined its plans for the future, including a new wrinkle to playing the game.

Moving forward, TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot will become necessary elements to play the game. Battlestate acknowledged the backlash the requirements have received, but noted that it’s “a needed measure in the current world to not fully prevent cheaters from entering the game but make some of the software conduct code re-writing and features cut.”

Beyond that, more preventive action will take place. This includes new detection systems that should keep in step with bad actors.

“Fighting cheaters is still a cat&mouse game and, with time, becomes even more complex, but we are still keeping up with our commitment to have new detection systems implemented soon as well as reducing the amount of raids cheaters can play before getting banned,” the post read.

What you won’t see is Battlestate going directly after cheat developers. They will when it makes sense, but oftentimes “the happy outcome of the legal case can take a lot of time and will not justify the efforts.” Instead, they will focus on ad and video takedowns that can help minimize the reach of the developers.

It’s a whopper of an update, but it’s one worth reading if you’ve got the time, or an interest in how the sauce is made.