Fortnite developer Epic Games has just purchased Finnish anti-cheat tech startup Kamu.

Keeping cheaters at bay is key to a healthy online game. Nobody knows that more than PUBG, who have seen their dominant position as the go-to battle royale shooter supplanted by rival upstart Fortnite thanks in no small part to the proliferation of cheaters in PUBG.

While PUBG has shrunk to less than half of its peak player base, Fortnite continues to grow. In August, Epic reported nearly 80 million players in the game at once. That’s like if a quarter of the entire United States population all decided to sit down and play just one game. And a big reason for Fortnite’s success is Epic’s strong stance against cheaters.

Since the very beginning of Fortnite, Epic has employed Helsinki Finland-based anti-cheat tech startup Kamu to keep their game free of hackers, cheaters, and illegal software users. Their program, simply called Easy Anti-Cheat, “counters the root cause of cheating with industry-leading prevention techniques,” according to their website.

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Chances are, you’ve already got Easy Anti-Cheat installed on your system. It’s used in over 80 games and has been installed on over 100 million computers, according to Kamu’s own statistics.

And they’re not just used by Epic. Kamu’s Easy Anti-Cheat can be found in games from some of the biggest names in the business, such as Bandai Namco, Paradox Studios, Hi-Rez Studios, Ubisoft, and Crytek.

Fortnite
via Epic Games
Fortnite

With this acquisition, the only real difference will be that Kamu will have WAY more resources to combat cheaters, and the cheques all these other studios write will go to Epic rather than Kamu. For the average Fortnite player, this acquisition will change absolutely nothing save for the game becoming just a little bit harder to hack.

“Kamu’s team and tools have been key to building a vibrant Fortnite multiplayer experience that’s fair for all players,” said Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney. He then promptly went back to counting the literal billions of dollars the company has made from online sales in Fortnite.

After finishing his Scrooge McDuck-style swim in a pool full of gold coins, Sweeney continued, “Building and launching games today is incredibly challenging, and only half the battle. Kamu’s tools for managing live games help developers grow and sustain their games successfully after launch. At Epic, we succeed when developers succeed!”

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