EA Javelin is an invisible shield against cheaters that has blocked more than 33 million attempts at unfair play since 2022

Electronic Arts has finally lifted the veil on its PC anti-cheat system, which has remained in the shadows until now. Rebranded as EA Javelin, the kernel-level antivirus software, which is already used in 14 EA games including Battlefield 2042 and Madden NFL 25, has prevented a staggering 33 million cheat attempts since its launch in 2022. According to EA, recent updates to Javelin have halved the number of cheaters players encounter in Battlefield 2042.

Here's What We Know

Although EA began actively implementing its own anti-virus software for its games back in 2022 with the release of FIFA 23, there was little information about its effectiveness. Now, the company is sharing more details about its efforts and has even given its brainchild a new name - EA Javelin, which it says symbolises protection, strength and agility in the fight against dishonest players.

In a recently published progress report, EA's Head of Gaming Security Elise Murphy said that EA Javelin Anticheat has blocked 33 million cheating attempts across 2.2 billion PC game sessions since its launch in 2022. She also noted that the software currently demonstrates 99% accuracy in detecting and blocking cheaters, and that in the rare cases of erroneous blocking, EA promptly reverses such bans.

New features introduced to EA Javelin last autumn in Battlefield 2042 have also had a significant impact. Murphy reported that the game's "match infection rate" - the frequency with which a regular player encountered a cheater - was cut in half after the EA Javelin update.

In her report, Murphy also tried to allay players' fears about EA Javelin running at the operating system kernel level, an approach also used by Riot Games' Vanguard and Activision's Ricochet.

"While having a kernel-level driver is important to ensure fair play in our games, we also understand the concerns that such a driver can cause," said Murphy, "EA Javelin Anticheat only runs when you run one of our protected games and will remove itself if you uninstall all EA games that have EA Javelin Anticheat protection. We've worked closely with internal teams and third-party experts to ensure that EA Javelin Anticheat only checks what is necessary to combat cheating... everything else is untouchable."

Despite the relative silence on EA's anti-cheating efforts since 2022, Murphy assured that the company plans to share updates and details on the topic more frequently in the name of transparency.

Source: Electronic Arts