Embark Studios says The Finals bug stopped it from 'banning cheaters efficiently'

The Finals artwork showing three players
(Image credit: Embark Studios)

Embark Studios is improving anti-cheat measures in The Finals following player feedback. 

Just a couple of weeks after the surprise launch of the first-person multiplayer shooter, players are reporting problems with cheaters plaguing their games, a significant problem that seems to be making ranked matches unplayable. 

As GamesRadar+ reports, a post shared to The Finals Discord server on December 18 explains that the developer has been unable to address the ongoing cheating issues in the game due to a bug.

"Over the past few days, we've had a technical issue that prevented us from banning cheaters efficiently," said community lead Dusty Gustafsson. "We're now nearing a solution to this bug, and we're already begun re-upping our anti-cheat measures again.

"Thanks for your patience as we continue to sort through issues. Keeping the game a smooth, safe, and fair space for players is our biggest priority. We're in this for the long haul." 

Embark didn't provide any details on the bug, but players will be glad to know that a fix is on its way. Additionally, the team will be adding further safeguards to the game to prevent more cheaters from interrupting matches, which includes changes to its EAC (Easy Anti-Cheat) system.

"EAC isn't our only anti-cheat measure. We have a lot of things going at once. But we have been dealing with an issue that's caused a ton of headaches," Gustafsson said in a separate response. "I hope your experience is about to get better. Please give us time to fix things. We're new and fine-tuning. I have faith in the team."

Gustafsson has also asked players to continue to report cheaters as the team is working "non-stop" to address the problem.

Embark recently released a hotfix for the game that aimed to improve the game's skill-based matchmaking, allowing players of similar skill levels more likely to be matched together. 

For more, be sure to check out our list of the best FPS games as well as the best co-op games available right now.