Psyonix is investigating solutions.
AI bots in Rocket League aren’t new, but players using them to cheat in Ranked matches is indeed new! Hopefully, Psyonix is already aware of the matter and is looking to stop this tricky way of cheating in competitive games.
Yesterday, PC Gamer published a full report of some Rocket League players assuming bots have showed up in Ranked matches disguised as real players. The report includes some footage captured by the community showing an unusual way of playing the game and flawlessly controlling the ball and guiding it towards the opponent goal.
Reacting to the report, Psyonix has emailed PC Gamer, confirming that “a small number of players” currently use bots in Ranked mode to cheat. The developer also assured fans that it is “actively investigating solutions.”
One thing that most AI bots have in common is the fact that they prefer ground play and barely jump up or perform aerial maneuver to control the ball. This is quite weird, as even experienced Rocket League players can’t control the ball that well by sticking to the pitch and then moving it around with the least maneuvering possible.
Bots in Rocket League were actually developed by a part of the community in an attempt to explore trained AI algorithms and even have competitions in local matches between different bots. The developers of these bots didn’t intend to use them as cheats, but when a similar technology is out, you can’t stop people from wrongly benefiting from the advantages.
RLGym, one of the Rocket League bot developers, clarifies that some players have implemented “their own tools for manipulating [Rocket League] that don’t have the same restrictions against playing online that RLGym and RLBot do.” This is the main reason why bots can bypass the game’s anti-cheat system. So, it is safe to say that Rocket League is dealing with a serious issue at the moment that fans do hope it doesn’t get out of hands.
Bots have been a real issue in multiplayer games recently. Rainbow Six Siege is already dealing with these AI bots that calculate the opponent’s position and headshot it with continuous hipfire.
Rocket League is currently using Easy Anti-Cheat software, which is also being used in some triple-A titles such as Fortnite, Battlefield 2042, Apex Legends, and Hunt: Showdown.
