Splatoon 2, the Nintendo Switch exclusive, has been a hit amongst Switch players since its release. With additions being added every so often, it’s no wonder why it has maintained its popularity. However, a shadow looms over the community: cheaters. In an effort to get Nintendo’s attention on the matter, one cheater has hacked the ranked leaderboard for Splatoon 2 in order to show how easy and non-existent anti-cheating measures are within the game.
Rank X is currently the hardest rank to attain in the game, and it is impossibly difficult to stay at the top for very long. However, as seen above, a single individual has managed to get four different accounts with very specific names to show up on all four leaderboards. Their names, Please, add, anti, and cheat, spell out a plea for Nintendo to address the growing issue of cheating in Splatoon 2. The hacker, while remaining anonymous, has posted about his ranking debacle on Reddit.
“Splatoon 2 is a game that I love so very deeply. Despite having its connectivity issues, I think it provides a healthy and competitive environment for all players,” he writes. “However, this will not be true as long as there are cheaters lurking around. I’ve never personally played the first Splatoon, but I heard how bad it was, being overrun by cheaters who tamper with the game and impose unfair advantages on others.”
The original game in the series, Splatoon, has been subject to more and more hackers over the last year. While some have used hacking for more personal interests, such as accessing interesting content that otherwise would not be available, many hackers have gone into online modes to disrupt normal gameplay.
While support for Splatoon has been dropped in favor of Splatoon 2, some still play the original. Also, even though there are anti-cheat systems, and players are banned as well, this incident is a telltale sign of the effectiveness of these anti-cheating measures. You can see what kind of hacks are effecting Splatoon below:
Since this incident, the hacker’s accounts have had their X power level set to 0, effectively knocking them off of the leaderboards. Because of the direct action taken, it means Nintendo has definitely seen the message. Whether or not anything becomes of this incident is still up in the air, but the implementation of better anti-cheat system would only help the longevity of the game.