The cheat industry has become a multi-million dollar business

According to a study by the University of Birmingham, the creators of cheating software for games receive an annual income of between $12.8 million and $73.2 million. Analysts studied 80 specialized sites that are not inferior in terms of service to legitimate online stores - with technical support and a subscription system for regular cheat updates. In Europe and the United States, between 30,000 and 174,000 users regularly purchase such programs, the cost of which varies from $6.63 to $254.28.

Cheat developers are constantly improving their products, sometimes releasing updates every 36 hours. Modern technologies allow them to use artificial intelligence to create more advanced aimbots that not only automatically aim at the target, but also learn during the game. Machine learning also helps to bypass DRM protection systems and anti-cheat solutions. Researchers note that the actual size of the market may be much larger, since Asian sales, forum deals and free cheat options were not taken into account.

The gaming industry is responding to this threat with new methods of protection. The developers of Battlefield 6 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 are implementing the Secure Boot system, and the creators of PUBG: Battlegrounds are working on an anti-cheat that will scan the operating system kernel for suspicious activity. However, as practice shows, the fight against cheaters resembles an endless arms race, where each side is constantly improving its technologies.