What happened with the Apex Legends hack during ALGS, and is the game safe?

Apex Legends has had a hacking problem for a while, and this weekend, it took center stage during a competitive event.

During one of the final matches before the first in-person events of ALGS Year 4, two pro players were hacked. This caused proceedings to be paused for days while Respawn Entertainment investigated what had happened. This was the first time a hack had been so blatant, and it came just at the wrong point in the tournament as fans eagerly awaited the results.

ALGS Year 4 hack explained

In March 2024, during the ALGS North American Finals, two pro Apex Legends players were hacked. Genburten of DarkZer0 was hacked so that he could see every player on the map. This is effectively a developer tool and not something that’s fair in a high-stakes match like the one he was playing. Of course, as soon as he noticed, he called it out and said he should stop.

The second player to be hacked was ImperialHal of TSM. He was given an aimbot, so he didn’t need to aim at all when firing at enemies. While, at the time, he asked if the match could continue if he didn’t shoot, that shouldn’t really be okay since the hack was in play.

Both of these hacks appeared to be complete surprises to the players, hence their reactions in the videos of their streams that were captured. Respawn Entertainment quickly got on the case and issued a statement postponing the event until the cause of the hacks and exploits used to make them had been identified and plugged.

I’m a huge fan of the ALGS, and I know that both the organizers and the players would have preferred to restart the match and carry on. Obviously, that wasn’t possible because another hack could have occurred. At the time, this hack caused a delay for ALGS Year 4, which would move to physical LAN events in the months following the hack.

Who are the ALGS Year 4 hackers?

The Anti-Cheat Police Department on Twitter, an account specializing in independent cheating information gathering, has explained that it believes it’s found the hackers. I’ve heard the name Destroyer2009 being thrown around a lot, but I’ve not seen any confirmation from official sources that they are the actual hacker. As soon as I do, I’ll update this article.

More than just identifying the hackers, it appears to have gained confirmation from them that no one who plays or streams Apex Legends is at risk. It’s also said that the two pros who were hacked didn’t download any viruses because that wasn’t the intent here. The motivation was to cause a raucous, not harm.

Is Apex Legends safe to play?

Yes, Respawn Entertainment quickly got to work adding layers of security to Apex Legends to make it safe and secure for everyone. It appears that the hack wasn’t malicious and was used by the hackers to stop a major eSports event. If the game weren’t safe to play, both EA and the developer would say something on social media and likely block players from getting into matches.