Palworld is barely a week old but cheating is already proving to be a problem.
Developer Pocketpair issued an update on Steam to say it had confirmed cheating on the official Palworld server, and that it would apply a patch as soon as it’s ready.
Indeed, a Palworld patch (v0.1.3.0) has just been released that adds “countermeasures against various cheats and exploits”. However, Pocketpair stressed “it is currently difficult to completely prevent all cheating immediately”.
“We will continue to focus even more on security and aim to create an environment where everyone can play with peace of mind,” Pocketpair said. “We sincerely apologize to all players who have been affected by this incident. Thank you for your continued support of Palworld.”
Xyrem, from video game cheat prevention organisation the Anti-Cheat Police Department, told IGN that Palworld cheats “have been kind of exploding as there are a lot of people who are interested in cheating”.
That doesn’t come as a surprise given Palworld’s incredible launch success — it’s sold an incredible eight million copies in just six days and is the second most-played game ever on Steam.
According to Xyrem, Palworld does not have an anti-cheat system in place. “Everything is client authoritative,” Xyrem continued. “Meaning most things you do inside the game are done via the client, the server does not check for any of these things. So for example, you can spawn items, manipulate your player’s speed, damage, health, etc..”
Xyrem recommended Pocketpair change the way the game works so the client interacts with game items, and “make it work on the server side to reduce things that can be exploited to cheat.”
“It’s just fixing a bunch of things to be non replicable in the client and make the server the authority to deal with replicating things to other clients.”
Palworld is currently a player versus environment (PvE) only game, but Pocketpair has player versus player (PvP) planned for the future. Xyrem said it’s important for the developer to get on top of cheating now so it’s not out of hand before PvP is added to the game.
“I think that this is the beginning stage for Palworld, so it is crucial to implement these things asap,” Xyrem said. “So they don’t hurt other player’s experiences, as first impressions matter quite a lot. It is better to deal with them first, before any cheating epidemic occurs.”
Palworld is already one of the biggest games of the year, and one of the biggest games ever on Steam, but it is also one of the most controversial. Pocketpair has said its staff have received death threats amid Pokémon “rip-off” claims, and Nintendo has moved quickly to remove an eye-catching Pokémon mod. Overnight, The Pokemon Company issued a statement, saying: “We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon.”
For more, check out our in-depth look as to whether it is fair to call Palworld a Pokemon rip-off.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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