Embark Studios Banned 15,000 Players in One Day, But Dev Says They “Need Thousands of Developers” to Keep Up with the $8 Billion Cheat Industry

Cheating remains one of the biggest challenges facing multiplayer games, and Embark Studios says the scale of the fight has grown far beyond simply detecting suspicious software. Speaking at Gamescom Dev 2026, senior software engineer Tom van Dijck revealed that the studio banned around 15,000 players on Monday alone while discussing its ongoing efforts against cheaters in ARC Raiders and THE FINALS. According to van Dijck, the studio is facing an estimated $8 billion cheat industry that operates like a…