Anybrain: 51% of studios report player and revenue losses from cheating
Key takeaways
- 51% of 250 US/UK studios report player or revenue declines from cheating
- $8.5 billion estimated global market for cheating services
- 93% of studios have dedicated anti-cheat teams; 88% will increase investment
- 73% without anti-cheat plan implementation within a year; 92% optimistic despite issues
Anybrain’s report The Rise of Cheating as a Service finds 51% of surveyed developers say cheating has caused measurable declines in player retention or revenue, based on a poll of 250 studios working on competitive online multiplayer games in the US and UK. The research puts the scale of the cheating economy at a global $8.5 billion and notes a 2021 case where a single cheat developer reportedly earned $77 million from one game.
Cheating has become a professionalised service ecosystem, with subscriptions, boosting and in-game economy manipulation cited as major drivers. Three in four studios (76%) have implemented some form of anti-cheat, and client-side protections are the most common approach at 50%. AI-powered anti-cheat is used by 48% of studios and third-party solutions by 42%, and many developers layer multiple systems at once. Despite widespread deployment, 45% of respondents say cheaters are finding ways around protections, and 58% report regular community complaints about cheating.
Anti-cheat itself is causing headaches. A majority, 55%, report technical issues caused by anti-cheat software, while 31% say false positives have led to innocent players being banned. Community backlash over anti-cheat choices affects 37% of studios. Staffing and budget choices are already shaping responses: 93% of studios maintain dedicated anti-cheat teams, 47% of developers with anti-cheat say they proceeded after securing a dedicated budget, 15% currently lack a dedicated team, and 12% say anti-cheat is too expensive. Among studios without anti-cheat, 25% say they haven’t found a working solution, 22% cite concerns about community feedback, and another 22% say they do not believe they have a cheating problem.
Investment plans skew strongly toward beefing up defences: 88% of surveyed studios intend to increase anti-cheat spending over the next 12 months, and 44% of teams planning their next move prefer AI-powered solutions, with third-party options at 42% and in-house kernel-level systems at 33%. Notably, 73% of developers who currently lack anti-cheat are considering implementing it within the next year, and 92% of all respondents remain optimistic that cheating can eventually be eradicated despite this being a persistent, global commercial issue.
Why it matters
Takeaway: studios are already treating anti-cheat as an operational line item — 93% have dedicated teams and 88% plan higher investment next year — which makes anti-cheat spending and talent the clearest short-term battleground for multiplayer games fighting a roughly $8.5 billion global cheating market.
Original source
PocketGamer.biz
