Ubisoft cracks down on For Honor cheaters by banning 1500 players

Earlier this month, Ubisoft vowed to crack down on players caught cheating in its new medieval brawler For Honor. The developer is now making good on that promise having banned around 1,500 people for "AFK Farming."

In a post on Reddit, Ubisoft said they have issued the first wave of 3-day bans to thousands of cheaters on Tuesday, 14 March after sending out warnings to players deemed guilty of the practice earlier last week.

The company said around 1,500 players received a 3-Day ban for AFK Farming, adding that around 4000 additional cheaters have already been detected and will soon receive warnings.

The practice of AFK Farming involves players going AFK (away from keyboard) but still keeping their in-game character moving throughout a match to gain end-of-game rewards and progression without actually playing.

Some players, for example, tie rubber bans around their analogue sticks to trick the game into believing that they are still engaged. They frequently use this method as well as third-party applications to garner a large amount of rewards.

"Using a cheat engine to exploit AFK farming is against our Code of Conduct, and these impacted players may get a permaban for cheating," the For Honor team wrote. "In all cases, impacted players will receive an official email detailing their sanction and the reason behind it."

Ubisoft previously said it would apply different degrees of sanctions on AFK farmers "depending on the situation and the existence of additional sanctions already on a player's account." The company said it will issue a warning to all first-time offenders and then issue a temporary or permanent ban to players who repeatedly use AFK farming.

"Actual disciplinary action depends on the severity of the behavior and shall be decided at Ubisoft's discretion, on a case by case basis," Ubisoft said, noting that sanctions will only be applied "if there is clear evidence."

While players appreciated Ubisoft's efforts to crack down on AFK farmers, many also urged the company to address the game's ongoing server and connectivity problems.

IBTimes UK's review of For Honor deemed the game "bloated in a way it doesn't need to be, but in a way that's completely unsurprising for Ubisoft."

"Ubisoft may have marketed the game as a big, broad battler, but in truth it's just about you and your opponent and that's where it is at its best."

For Honor is out now for PS4, Xbox One and PC.