Palworld says public server problems are 'due to cheating and the influence of fraudulent activities', outlines plans to add anti-cheat software to nip it in the bud

(Image credit: Pocketpair)

Palworld's had a bit of a cheater problem recently, and if you're wondering why that matters in a PvE title, it's because of the public servers. Item duping, one-shotting, and (according to a recent announcement) problems accessing the servers themselves have all become headaches for the game's players and developers alike.

"Currently, some users are unable to connect to official servers due to cheating and the influence of fraudulent activities," reads a statement on the game's official Discord and Twitter. "We have confirmed that some players are unable to play the game properly. As a company, we do not tolerate any fraudulent activity or cheating, and we are working on measures to deal with it strictly and as a priority," developer Pocketpair said.

Pocketpair plans to plug this leak with a two-pronged cork: first prong, a "player list function" slated for the end of this month. "Through this, we will strengthen the identification of players who engage in cheating and the suspension of their use by the development team."

Second prong: anti-cheat is coming to Palworld—though only on its public servers. If you want to instagib a Lamball with infinite damage for some unholy reason, your "community servers, single player, and co-op" servers will be unaffected.

Why anyone would cause problems on this scale is beyond me—Palworld isn't a competitive game, after all. Maybe some hackers are just really upset about the working conditions of their favourite little guy (rumours of a Depresso Liberation League have not yet been substantiated).

In all seriousness, public servers will always invite players hungry for an unearned power-trip. As for the issue of access, DDoS attacks and their ilk target games with such ideological inconsistency that I'm no longer surprised when I hear about some cyber-dweeb stopping complete strangers from having fun. Some pals just want to watch the world burn.

Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.