Work on Apex Legends cross-progression slowed down by recent hacks

Apex Legends Valkyrie abilities
(Image credit: Respawn Entertainment)

Since Apex Legends season 9 kicked off a few months ago, the free-to-play battle royale has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity. But as with any popular competitive game, more general attention has also attracted more prospective cheaters. The recent influx of nefarious players and DDoS attacks have become so disruptive in Apex that it's affecting development on a pretty big planned feature: cross-progression.

According to Apex Legends game director Chad Grenier, work on cross-progression has slowed as a direct result of Apex and Titanfall's recent troubles with hackers. Responding to a tweet seeking an update on cross-progression, Grenier said, "In development, although recent hacks on Apex and TF have slowed down the progress of it as we context switch to solving live game issues."

Cross-progression has been among the most anticipated features in Apex since crossplay was introduced last year. Players were excited to learn that they wouldn't have to repurchase every legend and cosmetic on their account to comfortably switch platforms, but the wait has been long.

Even before the recent cheating surge, Grenier has been open about the difficulties of adding the feature. In February, Grenier told players that it's "certainly more challenging to add cross-progression to a game that's been out for two years." It sure sounds like a decent challenge—Overwatch and Rainbow Six Siege are two other FPSes that received crossplay years after release but have yet to deliver on cross-progression.

Cheaters and DDoS attacks have become a larger problem in Apex as of late and Respawn has committed to cracking down harder on rule breakers. One of the issues Grenier's tweet refers to is, I imagine, the July 4 hijacking of Apex Legends' main menu. Over the holiday weekend, hackers were able to take control of the game's playlist function to protest Titanfall server hacks and display the message: "SAVETITANFALL.COM, TF1 is being attacked so is Apex."

Respawn communications director Ryan Rigney later stated the hackers "achieved nothing of value" by attacking Apex and pointing out issues the studio was already working to remedy in Titanfall.

Considering only "one or two" people are working on Titanfall's server woes, it sounds like all hands are on deck to bring Apex Legends back to full strength. Back in June, Respawn security analyst Conor Ford said over 30 DDoS attackers were shadowbanned in a day. "We care and are just as frustrated as the players." 

Thanks, Eurogamer

Morgan Park
Staff Writer

Morgan has been writing for PC Gamer since 2018, first as a freelancer and currently as a staff writer. He has also appeared on Polygon, Kotaku, Fanbyte, and PCGamesN. Before freelancing, he spent most of high school and all of college writing at small gaming sites that didn't pay him. He's very happy to have a real job now. Morgan is a beat writer following the latest and greatest shooters and the communities that play them. He also writes general news, reviews, features, the occasional guide, and bad jokes in Slack. Twist his arm, and he'll even write about a boring strategy game. Please don't, though.

Read more
black ops 6 season 1
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has now banned 136,000 accounts as part of the ongoing struggle to ensure fair play but still says that IP banning isn't an option
Horizon and Crypto, mean and ready for action
EA CEO says the magic words 'Apex 2.0': It won't happen until after the next Battlefield, but 'this will not be the final incarnation of Apex'
Mister Fantastic giving a thumbs up
A Marvel Rivals player has uncovered 'one of the most dangerous vulnerabilities a game can have' that'll let cheaters take over your PC and find your passwords
Marvel Rivals units - Three superheroes
GDC's annual State of the Game Industry survey reveals 1/3 of 'triple-A developers' are working on live service games
marvel rivals
Competitive shooters are at a crucial crossroads in 2025: 'sweaty' teamplay vs. casual fun
Helldivers 2 Discord header image - four Helldivers celebrating side by side on a large rock
Helldivers 2 and Marvel Rivals convinced me: Battle passes should never expire
Latest in Battle Royale
Shohei Ohtani wearing Samurai Shohei outfit in Fortnite
The best baseball player alive is coming to Fortnite, and so is his dog
Fortnite jacked Peter Griffin
Parents are suing Epic over Fortnite item shop 'FOMO' timers they say are inaccurate and manipulative
talk to the joneses fortnite
Epic's war against the Fortnite fraudsters sees it simultaneously name and shame alleged ne'er-do-wells as its high-powered lawyers sue them
Twisted Metal - Sweet Tooth
Apparently the canceled Twisted Metal game would have been a battle royale where you could get out of your car for some reason
talk to the joneses fortnite
Epic will give Fortnite cheaters 'a second chance' with a new, more forgiving ban policy, as long as they didn't do anything too awful or illegal
Fortnite skin for Master Chief from Halo
Don't stress, Epic Games says you can still unlock Fortnite's Xbox-exclusive Master Chief skin
Latest in News
The NES themed 8BitDo Retro mechanical gaming keyboard on a blue background
I love the 8BitDo Retro C64 keyboard but I'd pick its cheaper NES-themed model near its lowest price ever during Amazon's Big Spring Sale
gta 6 trailer
Publishers 'don't want to be anywhere near' Grand Theft Auto 6 when it launches: 'It's proving to be very stressful'
Microsoft's iconic Bliss wallpaper
From pixels to pinot: The Windows XP 'Bliss' wallpaper hill was real and this is what it looks like now
A female Zoi making two hearts with her fingers.
Following 24 hours of Denuvo-based backlash, Inzoi is taking a surprising step and removing it entirely: 'We want to sincerely apologise for not aligning more closely with player expectations'
An image of a Helldiver from Helldivers 2 shooting at a red dragon from Dungeons & Dragons.
'Ok, so dragon builds are a thing now': galaxy-brained Helldivers 2 player incinerates a bile titan with a hover pack and a flamethrower
An ancient, angry stone mech from No Man's Sky's new Relics update
No Man’s Sky lets you unearth ancient, angry mechs in the astro-archaeology filled Relics update