51% of studios lose money due to cheaters - the fight is getting more expensive

51% of studios face a drop in player retention or revenue due to cheaters, and 88% of developers plan to increase spending on combating them in the next 12 months.

Cheaters are becoming an increasingly serious problem for multiplayer games, affecting not only honest players but also the financial performance of studios. According to "The Rise of Cheating as a Service" study, prepared by Anybrain based on a survey of 250 developers from the US and UK, 69% consider cheating a serious problem.

Anybrain estimates that the global cheat market has reached $8.5 billion. This includes the programs themselves, subscriptions, boosting, and in-game economy manipulation. At the same time, 45% of developers face anti-cheat bypasses, 55% – technical problems with anti-cheat, and 31% have recorded erroneous bans of honest players.

Currently, 93% of studios have teams to combat cheaters, and 92% of developers believe that cheating in games will be completely eliminated in the future.