Marathon Just Solved ARC Raiders’ Biggest Problem, But it Sounds Too Good to Be True

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Before the public beta begins, Bungie shared details about the systems they’ve built into Marathon to keep players safe and prevent cheating. This has reassured many that the game will actively address unfair play. While these security measures seem promising, players will need to see them working in the actual game before they can be fully confident that cheating will be effectively handled.

Online games are often targeted by cheaters, and developers usually work to prevent this with secure systems and penalties. But in games where you collect items – like Marathon and ARC Raiders – cheating can be particularly frustrating. Losing to a cheater means losing valuable items you’ve worked hard to get. ARC Raiders players are already experiencing this issue, as cheating remains a persistent problem in the game.

Cheating is Still One of ARC Raiders’ Biggest Problems

Even though the developers of ARC Raiders are trying to stop cheaters, new exploits seem to appear constantly. Recently, players have been able to duplicate items—effectively creating unlimited grenades—and hackers have found a way to spawn enemy structures anywhere on the map. With the game’s growing popularity since launch, Embark Studios has been struggling to keep up with the increasing number of cheaters.

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Despite a recent issue with item duplication, cheaters in ARC Raiders were previously able to avoid permanent bans by using hacks like wall hacks and aimbots, and switching to shared accounts through Steam Family Sharing. The game developers, Embark Studios, recently disabled Family Sharing to stop this practice, as part of a broader effort to improve the game’s security since its launch. While this is a step in the right direction, ARC Raiders still has a significant challenge ahead to eliminate cheating completely.

Marathon is Cracking Down on Cheaters from the Start

Unlike ARC Raiders, Marathon is taking steps to prevent cheating before its initial server test, which runs from February 26th to March 2nd. The developers had the benefit of observing how ARC Raiders handled cheaters after delaying its launch to March 5th, 2026. By proactively addressing cheating, Marathon hopes to build and maintain a strong player community in the vital early months, potentially giving it an advantage over similar games like ARC Raiders.

How Marathon is Handling Cheaters

  • Dedicated servers that are fully authoritative on key combat and looting actions
  • Networking systems that track movement and actions
  • Fog of War to limit player client map knowledge and prevent “wall hacks,” “ESP cheats,” and “loot revealers”
  • Rebuilt security stack along with an extra layer of security provided by BattlEye
  • Anyone found to be cheating will be permabanned from playing Marathon forever, no second chances

Bungie is clearly committed to fighting cheating in Marathon, and has even completely overhauled its security systems to provide the best possible protection. Players can also take comfort in features like the Fog of War, which blocks certain types of cheating, and server-side tracking of player activity to prevent manipulation. The game has a zero-tolerance policy for cheaters, resulting in permanent bans. Whether these measures are truly effective will depend on how well they work in practice, but they aim to stop hackers from ruining the game for others.

Why Marathon’s Strict Anti-Cheating Policies May Be a Pipe Dream

Image via Bungie

If Bungie can effectively prevent cheating in Marathon, it could become the leading extraction shooter for players frustrated with the issues plaguing ARC Raiders. However, simply having a plan to fight cheaters doesn’t guarantee Marathon will be completely free of them at launch.

Bungie announced new security measures and an anti-cheating policy, but also acknowledged that protecting their game is an ongoing process. They explained that determined cheaters will always look for weaknesses in Marathon, and despite their efforts, there might still be undiscovered glitches or bugs that hackers could exploit. This means the game may still be vulnerable to cheating.

Image via Bungie

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Bungie’s harsh ban policy for cheaters could cause problems if it’s not carefully managed. While the policy aims to punish those who cheat, innocent players sometimes get banned by mistake. It’s unclear how Bungie would handle such situations in the upcoming Marathon game. We’ve seen similar issues before, like in ARC Raiders, where a widespread glitch led to players being punished for exploiting it. This created a difficult situation for ARC Raiders, especially when dealing with popular content creators who had used the glitch. A similar situation could arise with Marathon under Bungie’s strict, permanent ban policy.

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2026-02-25 12:04