The Division cheaters will now get banned on the first offence

Ubisoft has had a bit of a problem on their hands with The Division. Well, there are a number of issues that I could talk about, but perhaps one of the worst is the rampant cheating issues that have existed since the game was released. And nothing kills an online game faster than opponents that you simply can't defeat, because they're using cheats and exploits to aid them.

Back in April, Ubisoft sent a message to cheaters saying that they would crack down on them with better detection methods, and harsher penalties. While their efforts have prevented some cheating, it's simply not enough. With that in mind, the company has decided to take further action to weed out the cheaters from their game.

In a blog post earlier this week, Ubisoft announced that since they started enforcing their new rules back in April, they have taken action against more than 30,000 accounts, which includes 3,800 accounts which were permanently banned. But even with this, they admitted that they simply weren't doing enough.

Taking a page from Blizzard, they are no longer giving warning to cheaters. There will be no temporary 14-day bans any longer. Instead, if you're caught cheating, you simply get a permanent ban. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. This method seems to be working well for Blizzard with Overwatch (though they take even further steps to ensure that the ban truly is permanent).

Personally, I'm happy to see this heavy-handed effort on Ubisoft's part. Cheating can ruin a good online game, and the only way to prevent it is to make sure that the offenders are dealt with swiftly, and permanently.

Source: Ubisoft