10 Creative Ways Video Games Fought Cheaters
2. A Player Hacked The Leaderboards, Begging Nintendo To Implement Anti-Cheat - Splatoon 2
When developers won't deal with cheaters, players may feel compelled to take matters into their own hands, and that's precisely what happened with Splatoon 2.
In 2018, one player became exasperated enough with the game's online multiplayer being so infested with cheaters that they decided to send Nintendo a message. How? By cheating themselves, and cheating big.
The player took it upon themselves to hack the game's online leaderboards, editing their X Power numbers so that they appeared in the top four spots of the leaderboard, with the player names "Please, Add, Anti, Cheat." Get it?
The person responsible even took to Reddit to elaborate that they're a huge fan of the game but were dissatisfied with Nintendo's refusal to implement sufficient anti-cheat measures.
Nintendo predictably responded by banning the individual from Splatoon 2's online play, though their clever gambit actually ended up working, as about a month later the company also began implementing more robust anti-cheat measures.
This also carried through to the recent release of Splatoon 3, where Nintendo took a far more proactive approach in banning cheating players.