Back in October 2024, Respawn announced they were blocking Apex Legends on Linux platforms (including Steam Deck). Apparently this has worked quite well for them.
If they know who is on Linux and who is reported as cheating, they wouldn’t use such a speculative metric to conclude that the cheaters are using linux.
I would find it very hard to believe that they don’t know which OS each client is using.
(Replying to myself) Even if these numbers are legit, we don’t know the process or exact metrics used.
This data may include falsely banned players on Linux (which was reported before they restricted Linux) and may exclude many cheaters on Windows (any of those who weren’t caught). We don’t know.
They tweeted this graph in early December:
Note how the graph is missing labels and how neither it nor the tweet include information on how these metrics were gathered.
If they know who is on Linux and who is reported as cheating, they wouldn’t use such a speculative metric to conclude that the cheaters are using linux.
I would find it very hard to believe that they don’t know which OS each client is using.
And then cheating rises again.
So whatever caused cheating to decrease relative to the population (assuming that’s what’s being measured) is probably to blame.
Here’s a different explanation:
A better test is to keep support for Linux for the launch, then drop it in a minor patch update a few days later.
That chart doesn’t even show correlation. Cheating was having a downward trend then. Continued the downward trend after banning Linux users. What?!?
I wonder how the graph looks compared to school semesters stopping and starting. I bet it’s similar
(Replying to myself) Even if these numbers are legit, we don’t know the process or exact metrics used.
This data may include falsely banned players on Linux (which was reported before they restricted Linux) and may exclude many cheaters on Windows (any of those who weren’t caught). We don’t know.