If you’re a fan of extraction shooters, or potentially just first-person shooters in general, you’ll know that Escape from Tarkov has a problem with cheaters – a big one. That has been the case for years, and it always seems that no matter what Battlestate Games does, the issue persists.
Well, along has come PlaySafe ID, a London-based company that wants to eliminate cheating in all games, but has publicised a special focus on Escape from Tarkov.
‘Imagine EFT Without Cheaters’
It’s a bold promise, but PlaySafe ID, an anti-cheat company headquartered in the United Kingdom, has put forward a concept to eliminate cheating in Escape from Tarkov. At the very least, it seeks to prevent legitimate players from ever matching with cheaters, but it needs direct support from Battlestate Games.
This brand came across my desk in the form of an ad on Reddit, so at least the marketing airtime they’ve paid for is working. The video showed PlaySafe ID’s founder promising big things in the Tarkov space while simultaneously bagging on the game’s hacker-fuelled plague.
On the PlaySafe ID site, the concept is expanded on:
Escape from Tarkov is a great game but like all FPS games, cheating has gotten out of hand. It kills the competition and ruins the game for everyone. That’s why we’re trying to work with EFT/Battlestate Games.
If we work with EFT, your PlaySafe ID will unlock new matchmaking where you will only play with real people who haven’t been caught cheating.
For the first time ever you can play knowing your lobbies are fair and cheaters are really kept out.
This is what we want to bring to Apex Legends, PUBG, R6, Escape from Tarkov, Arc Raiders, and many more games.
The core principle is that PlaySafe ID acts as a network or middleman to verify and authenticate a player based on their ‘PlaySafe ID’. This PlaySafe ID can be used across multiple games, and if you’re caught behaving maliciously in one, you’re banned or punished across the whole suite. The ideal scenario is players being matched exclusively with other PlaySafe ID-verified users.
It’s a war of attrition, in a way. If enough players sign up to PlaySafe ID, it’ll eventually leave cheaters matching with other cheaters, and that’s no fun for anyone involved.
That’s the dream, anyway.
Earlier this year, PlaySafe ID secured more than $1 million in investment to take on the vast world of cheaters and hackers. In an article published in Forbes, it was confirmed that they’d received early investments from a series of firms based on goals to secure more than 250,000 users in ‘the first few months’ after launch.
It’s stressed that PlaySafe ID will be ‘free for players forever’, and that it’s the game studios that take the brunt of the cost. The benefits are up in lights, but would we ever see a company like Battlestate Games partner with a brand like PlaySafe ID?
After all, many have commented that while Battlestate Games keeps banning cheaters, the same malicious operators pop back up time and again after buying new copies of the game…
Do you think an initiative like this could ever succeed? Let me know on the Insider Gaming forum.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that future Xbox consoles will be backwards compatible
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
More from Grant Taylor-Hill
So let me get this straight, they want us to submit a photo id and sign up for a 3rd party account just to play?
I’ll be skipping every game that uses this platform.
Great idea, get banned in apex legends for saying the n word, now you’re stuck with the cheaters in the other games you play.