Fighting Games Friday: Our Cheating Nightmare Has Arrived

For as good as it has been for fighting games to be released on PC simultaneously with console counterparts after years of pressure on publishers, especially in Japan, there was always fear that one big problem could develop: cheating. The PC being a more open platform compared to largely-closed consoles is why it’s so popular to play games on, with improved ownership for digital titles compared to the so-called the “walled gardens” consoles have. But being an open platform makes it easier for hackers to manipulate games and cheat, to make playing online hell for anyone who wants to take them seriously. Yet, they were largely untouched for so long that it was easy to think this fear was overblown.

There’s a good reason why I kicked this post off with that intro: Our long-feared hellscape has finally arrived.

The fourth season of Tekken 7 just started, which will come with new characters like a younger Kunimitsu, along with new moves for the existing characters and stages. But who knew it would include hackers breaking the game by cheating with AI bots? Tournament player Kim “JDCR” Hyunjin encountered one online earlier in the week, who, playing as Dragonuv, realized the Kazuya player he was fighting wasn’t a “player” at all. The third round showcased in the Twitter embed features the Kazuya “player” performing counterattacks no human could execute in succession. They have a well-timed block ready for low attacks or a quick combo-launching attack for attempted throws, both of which are tough to predict with consistency. The win count is also insane, even for a pro player. It’s clearly an AI character.

There will ideally be swift and vicious punishment for this. If not, this will get out of control in no time, and Tekken 7 will be hell to play online on PC. It will be quite a blow for the platform with the best online play, and shortly after the netcode received an excellent upgrade. But given how long it takes for developers to even update online modes and options adequately, I’m not sure they’ll be as prompt as necessary here. It’s too easy for the mind to wander and think this could happen to other games when hackers eventually dig far enough into their codes, a nightmare upon nightmares.

Depending on the options developers allow for their games, this won’t be a PC-only problem. Cross-platform play is popular across several games. Players want as large of a base to play games with as possible to keep their online communities alive, and the best way to avert their untimely deaths is for there to be no platform barriers between them. If PC games get hacked for online play, it will be a problem for console players in cross-platform games too. This example doesn’t apply to Tekken 7, which does not have the option. But think of what could happen to a game like Street Fighter V, which does have it. The already-iffy online play wouldn’t be the only issue going forward.

This will all end well if the developers of each game quickly ban the perpetrators. If not, the results will be devastating for the online communities in every title affected.

In other news: Hwang Seong-gyeong finally returned in Soulcalibur VI this week as the final character in the second season of downloadable content. He was one of the more popular characters when he debuted in the first Soul title, Soul Edge/Blade, but went mysteriously missing after the first Soulcalibur title. He was eventually replaced by Yun-Seong, who never inherited the “cool” factor Hwang came with thanks to being a perpetual novice. This makes SCVI the first game he’ll officially appear in after two decades. The Assassin who uses his move set in Soulcalibur II and the “Hwang” custom character in Soulcalibur III don’t count for reasons I hope are obvious. The character released on December 2nd alongside the Molten Pass Ruins and added custom character options.

It feels like it’s been forever since SNK announced The King of Fighters XV, only partly due to 2020 feeling like it’s taken place over half a century. They officially announced the game at Evo 2019 with no details, but development has likely been slowed thanks to pandemic complications. The teaser trailer released this week confirmed that SNK will reveal the game on January 7th, to kick off what will hopefully be a better year. The game doesn’t deserve to be shown in 2020.

The trailer confirms that Kyo, Benimaru, and The King of Fighters XIV new character Shun’ei will return, and given how large the rosters for KOF games are, this is just the beginning. I hope they’ll confirm that they’re dropping their usual terrible online netplay for, at the very least, something akin to rollback netplay for this game, or it may not be worth paying attention to.

SNK will announce the first characters coming for the third season of Samurai Shodown on the same day, one of which could be the Last Blade guest character they previously teased. A note that January 7th is a Thursday, one day before a Fighting Games Friday post will go up. It’s nice of them to give me an easy plan for what to discuss in the post that week.

Let’s hope the cheaters are dealt with in Tekken 7 so they don’t spread further, including to other games. It would end the PC netplay and overall cross-play dreams for nearly all PC fighters if they were allowed to fester.