BattleBit Remastered - FACEIT x Easy Anti-Cheat; Linux and Steam Deck Users Beware
Developers of BattleBit Remastered plan to introduce FACEIT in the place of Easy Ati-Cheat. This decision brings many controversies among Steam Deck and Linux users. Let's find out why the community is so reluctant to this change.
BattleBit Remastered, Battlefield-like blocky FPS, is growing in popularity since its release in Steam’s Early Access program on 15th of June. The number of players slowly but steadily grows, reaching almost 65,000 fans enjoying the title at the same time. This can change in the following weeks as the developers are considering implementation of a new anti-cheat system - FACEIT. It may result in limited access to the game especially for Linux users. Since Steam Deck is also by default running a version of Linux it can also be affected. Let’s analyse what’s going on.
Current anti-cheat situation in BattleBit Remastered
At the time of writing this article, BattleBit Remastered still uses Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC). This solution is known for bringing many problems to the game and not being very effective. Even though the developers were originally unwilling to implement this system in their title, the alternative in form of FACEIT caused a backlash in the community.
As EAC is not very liked in the gaming community, it works quite well on Linux. The same cannot be said for FACEIT. If the game creators decide to change the current anti-cheat to FACEIT, it will probably cause problems for Linux users. What is more, very popular handheld device from Valve, Steam Deck, is also running a version of Linux.
SgtOkiDoki (one of the game developers) informed on BattleBit’s official discord server, that the creators are still exploring options for FACEIT implementation in the future. This decision may cut out Linux players including many Steam Deck users. All of that though shows that the creators are considerate about players as they held back their initial decision to roll out the game in Early Access with already implemented FACEIT. Likely, they will try to make decision, which is satisfying for all fans. It is also worth noting that even if the developers will decide to introduce FACEIT, players will likely still be able to choose their anti-cheat on private servers.
Some BattleBit fans claim that they are okay with intrusive anti-cheat systems as long as it will keep cheaters at bay. It is understandable to the point that gamers using unfair advantage can cause the whole game to die.
Conclusion
In-game anti-cheat software has always sparked controversies. This often makes life harder for legitimate players, while still not eliminating the unfair ones. It is challenging to balance non-intrusive, light on resources solution that will be effective. Usually, strong anti-cheat needs very low system access, sometimes even as far as into the system kernel. That itself brings many privacy concerns. On the other hand, light on resources and not very intrusive solution is unfortunately not effective as it leaves many ways for cheaters to circumvent.
Sadly, as long as there are people who want to have an unfair advantage over the others, there will be need for anti-cheat software that will counteract this behaviour. It is crucial, especially for indie developers, as having healthy online community is their do or die. With too many cheaters flooding the game servers, people will be leaving it and new players will be avoiding the title effectively ending its life.
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