Niantic permabanned a million cheaters since the start of 2020

Pokémon Go creator Niantic has published a blog post detailing some of its anti-cheat efforts, and it seems the company has been busy. Since the start of 2020, Niantic has issued over 5 million “punishments” to players caught cheating, with over 20 percent of those being permabans. Doing the math, that’s over a million people who have gotten the boot in just over a year. This includes bans from Pokémon Go, Ingress, and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.

The post did contain some encouraging news about the player base: apparently over 90 percent of people stopped cheating after they received their first warning. That’s a wonderful thing to hear, because it’s relatable; I also like to live just on the edge until someone tells me to knock it off.

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