Apex Legends' latest patch broke its anti-cheat tool, kicking all Steam Deck players out of the game
The ‘Ignite’ update broke critical tools for Linux gamers.
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What you need to know
The curse of anti-cheat rears its head once more. Recently, we reported onAMD’s anti-lag getting players banned in games like Counter-Strike 2and other games. There seem to be constant reports of players being banned from games that, according to the player, weren’t cheating.
Well, with the new update,Steam Deckusers won’t be able to playApex Legendsuntil they fix the issue with Linux-based devices in the patch.
What does this mean for Linux and Steam Deck players? Respawn is working on a fix, so sit tight and give it a few more days. But the underlying issue here is how anti-cheat continues to harm reputable players and doesn’t seem to stop all cheaters.
Why won’t Apex Legends work on Steam Deck?
The Apex Legends build for Linux and, in turn, Steam Deck was broken in the latest patch. It appears that the easyanticheat_x64.so file for Linux was removed, causing this issue. This doesn’t seem to have been intentional by Respawn, and in fact, they have replied that afix for the issue is currently in progress.
Anti-cheat has been a long-time issue for Steam Deck Players. Unfortunately, for a lot of games,anti-cheat isn’t supported at all on Steam Deck, so the games aren’t playable. Still, in the last year or so, many developers have found ways to get anti-cheat onto the Deck and now work such as Halo: MCC and Halo Infinite.
If you’re a Steam Deck player itching to get into season 19, give it a few more days. Luckily, Apex Legends is playable on almost everything, so maybe give it a few more days, or it might be time to upgrade to a Windows 11-based ASUS ROG Ally or Lenovo Legion Go. Are you on the fence about upgrading? Check out ourreview for the ASUS ROG Ally, or look at thebest places to buy the Lenovo Legion Go.
Are you being affected by the Apex Legends update? Do you think anti-cheat is effective in games?Let us know in the comments.
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Colton is a seasoned cybersecurity professional that wants to share his love of technology with the Windows Central audience. When he isn’t assisting in defending companies from the newest zero-days or sharing his thoughts through his articles, he loves to spend time with his family and play video games on PC and Xbox. Colton focuses on buying guides, PCs, and devices and is always happy to have a conversation about emerging tech and gaming news.
