Apex Legends hacked... to protest Titanfall hackers?

[Molematt]

WTF?! Apparently, REvil ransomware isn't alone in picking the July 4 weekend to strike -- hackers have broken their way into Apex Legends, taking over the game's playlists and notifications with a message to "Save Titanfall"... from hackers breaking that game into an "unplayable" state.

The hacked in-game content was first spotted by Apex Legends News on Twitter, with players being limited to the hacked (and broken) "SaveTitanfall" playlist. While it initially seemed to be solely limited to PC players, it also spread to those on Xbox and the PS4.

The hacked content was replaced with text protesting the state of Titanfall and incidents of hacking in the game, along with a promotion of the website SaveTitanfall.com.

Players are being given this "Important Message" after finishing a match. pic.twitter.com/SGKvduO95p

— Apex Legends News (@alphaINTEL) July 4, 2021

That website is part of a campaign that claims that the 2014 FPS is "unplayable" as it is, with hackers filling lobbies with bots and blocking any legitimate players from connecting, and even preventing private lobbies from running.

There's plenty of documentation of the game's issues on the site, by both gaming media and community posts on Reddit and Steam. With "over three years" of fans trying to raise the issue, it would be hard to not feel that EA and Respawn have abandoned the title.

The website goes a step further, describing the continued sales of Titanfall in such an unstable state -- still listed at $20 on both Origin and Steam -- as "an act of fraud."

However, it turns out that the creators of SaveTitanfall.com aren't the ones responsible for the attack, but have had their campaign co-opted by the hackers. TF Remnant Fleet -- the "biggest original Titanfall community" and who created the site with the help of the NoSkill modding community -- disavowed the attacks and sought to clear their name, with admin RedShield stating to IGN:

I would like the Apex Legends' community, on behalf of the TF Remnant Fleet and the Titanfall community, [to know] that we stand with you.

We are not behind the recent attacks and have no control over them, and that's something that we know the pain of very well. We empathize with you, and hope that things can return to normalcy soon. At the very least, even if Titanfall doesn't get fixed, we hope that Apex Legends can be, as I know that's a game that far more people cherish just as much as we cherish our game.

According to RedShield, the attacks might have been from someone trying to tar Remnant Fleet's name but were more likely simply a well-intentioned hacker who wanted to raise awareness for their campaign, since the hackers quickly updated their content to say they weren't affiliated with SaveTitanfall.com.

Thankfully, the company quickly jumped on the issue, providing hourly updates until they could confirm that matchmaking was fixed with server-side updates. Still, it's not a good time for either fans or developers at Respawn, especially as both Apex and Titanfall -- as well as the latter's sequel -- were only last month hit by a wave of DDOS attacks.

Images: PVPX via Twitter, SaveTitanfall.com

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https://www.techspot.com/news/90301-apex-legends-hacked-protest-titanfall-hackers.html

 

[m4a4]

I mean, I hope they're working (even if slowly) on Titanfall 3. Something to eventually replace the previous one (and upgrade the MP for these people lol). I would be looking forward to the next campaign (as the previous was better than expected).

Which, Titanfall 2 is a bit old (and the MP never took off) to expect them to maintain it beyond critical stuff (as the team has long moved on).

 

[texasrattler]

I mean, I hope they're working (even if slowly) on Titanfall 3. Something to eventually replace the previous one (and upgrade the MP for these people lol). I would be looking forward to the next campaign (as the previous was better than expected).

Which, Titanfall 2 is a bit old (and the MP never took off) to expect them to maintain it beyond critical stuff (as the team has long moved on).

But TitanFall 2 is a current title and is still selling is the point. I could understand if we were talking about TF1 but this is about sequel. Also Apex is only a spinoff n free. TF2 is paid and should not be abandoned altogether cause a dev feels like it. If that's the case, game should be free with the dev saying the game is free and any updates that may come will be at their sole discretion.

 

[m4a4]

But TitanFall 2 is a current title and is still selling is the point. I could understand if we were talking about TF1 but this is about sequel. Also Apex is only a spinoff n free. TF2 is paid and should not be abandoned altogether cause a dev feels like it. If that's the case, game should be free with the dev saying the game is free and any updates that may come will be at their sole discretion.

I mean, they're still keeping the servers going.
And you just mentioned why it wouldn't be considered a "current title" anymore; Apex Legends.

The game was practically dead before their super cheap sale. I don't expect them to just spin up production on an older game when it was more-or-less promotional for their actual current game. That's just too entitled. The buyers can easily see how old the game is upon purchase (5+ years).

 

[texasrattler]

I mean, they're still keeping the servers going.
And you just mentioned why it wouldn't be considered a "current title" anymore; Apex Legends.

The game was practically dead before their super cheap sale. I don't expect them to just spin up production on an older game when it was more-or-less promotional for their actual current game. That's just too entitled. The buyers can easily see how old the game is upon purchase (5+ years).

Apex is the reason it's even alive, I agree but whether someone knows about a game or not, TF2 is still paid n needs to be somewhat maintained otherwise you are just ripping ppl off. I don't see entitlement when someone pays for a game but the dev does nothing regarding cheating or hacks. That's always unacceptable. If the servers are up it is the Responsibility of the dev to keep servers up n safely running. This isn't about updating a game but more keeping it from being overrun by hackers/cheats. Now if they the dev says it's over, fine but they can't just charge for a game without having said nothing.

BF4 died but got revived due to cheaters in other games plus the arrival of BF6 but that's been said to have no BR coming, at least nothing right away. 6 months to a year could be different.

 

[m4a4]

Apex is the reason it's even alive, I agree but whether someone knows about a game or not, TF2 is still paid n needs to be somewhat maintained otherwise you are just ripping ppl off. I don't see entitlement when someone pays for a game but the dev does nothing regarding cheating or hacks. That's always unacceptable. If the servers are up it is the Responsibility of the dev to keep servers up n safely running. This isn't about updating a game but more keeping it from being overrun by hackers/cheats. Now if they the dev says it's over, fine but they can't just charge for a game without having said nothing.

BF4 died but got revived due to cheaters in other games plus the arrival of BF6 but that's been said to have no BR coming, at least nothing right away. 6 months to a year could be different.

What's so different between this 5+ year old single-pay MP game and another one? (besides a popularity bump)

I still don't see an obligation. Annoying? Yes. But I don't know of any old MP FPS game (without microtransactions) that has active development on it. You do realize how much work it is to implement anti-cheat stuff and maintain it, right?

And don't get me wrong, I would like to see them dust off the dev project and revive it for the players, but I won't expect it.

 

[texasrattler]

What's so different between this 5+ year old single-pay MP game and another one? (besides a popularity bump)

I still don't see an obligation. Annoying? Yes. But I don't know of any old MP FPS game (without microtransactions) that has active development on it. You do realize how much work it is to implement anti-cheat stuff and maintain it, right?

And don't get me wrong, I would like to see them dust off the dev project and revive it for the players, but I won't expect it.

You do realize it's the devs job to maintain any game they make unless they state it's over n are shutting down the service.
No one is asking anything that they can't or shouldn't be doing. It's very fair to assume the game should be in a working state. If the game is being subject to mass cheating n code is being altered, that's a issue that has to be addressed n one that only the dev can deal with.

 

[m4a4]

You do realize it's the devs job to maintain any game they make unless they state it's over n are shutting down the service.
No one is asking anything that they can't or shouldn't be doing. It's very fair to assume the game should be in a working state. If the game is being subject to mass cheating n code is being altered, that's a issue that has to be addressed n one that only the dev can deal with.

It's in the dev's best interest to maintain a game for financial reasons (up to a point). I don't expect old games to be maintained, even if they have a spike in popularity 5+ years later. And they still are paying for servers to be available 24/7.

Anyways, I'm tired of this conversation. If the game was 1 or 2 years old (or had MTX in it, or recent content added) I would see your point. But 5+ years? Nope.

 

[texasrattler]

The numbers of yrs mean nothing. WoW, GTA n others have gone beyond 5+ yrs. Battlefield has n is doing it.
Any game can last as long as the dev keeps doing whats needed.

Again the point is the game is paid n servers are active. If issues occur like they are now, the dev has a responsibility to solve/fix any issue. It's not complicated to understand.

If the game was free n dev said the game wouldn't be updated/supported any longer then this would be different.