Unveiling the Unprecedented Success of Ubisoft’s MouseTrap Anti-Cheat in Rainbow Six Siege

Ubisoft's MouseTrap anti-cheat system has surpassed expectations, leading to a significant decrease in the number of players using unauthorized keyboard and mouse devices on console versions of Rainbow Six Siege. Since its launch in 2015, the game has struggled with cheaters, prompting Ubisoft to take legal action against cheat makers, with limited success.

For a long time, Rainbow Six Siege relied on BattlEye as its anti-cheat system, but it had several flaws. These flaws were so severe that prominent content creators who play Rainbow Six Siege decided to boycott the game in protest against BattlEye. One of the main issues was that the anti-cheat service would punish all players in a match if a cheater was found, regardless of whether they were the culprit or not.

In early 2023, Ubisoft launched its MouseTrap cheat detection system, primarily targeting players who used a mouse and keyboard to gain an unfair advantage while playing Rainbow Six Siege on console. This system specifically focused on catching cheaters who utilized spoofers, which not only provided an advantage but also included unfair features such as aim assist and auto-reload. In a recent blog post, Ubisoft disclosed that MouseTrap has successfully reduced the number of Rainbow Six Siege players using a mouse and keyboard on console by an impressive 78%, surpassing the company's initial expectations of 30 to 50%. Furthermore, in ranked matches, the prevalence of spoofers has decreased by 73%.

MouseTrap, a program designed to detect and deter spoofers, effectively reduces input lag over time, rendering any advantages gained from cheating useless. Ubisoft implemented this strategy instead of outright banning cheaters, giving them the chance to change their behavior and play fairly. Surprisingly, after just one penalty from MouseTrap, 43% of players have switched to using a controller and have not been flagged as cheaters again.

This approach by Ubisoft is quite generous. However, when it comes to cheat makers, the company appears to be taking a completely different approach. They have introduced a mysterious PC-only anti-cheat method called "QB" in November 2022, but very little information has been disclosed about its workings.

According to a report by PC Gamer, QB uses a tactic of constantly altering Rainbow Six Siege's executable throughout the day. This strategy creates compatibility issues with cheating programs on PC and compels cheat developers to frequently modify their code. While the exact capabilities of QB remain undisclosed, Ubisoft has publicly acknowledged its significant role in banning over 10,000 cheaters since the game's launch. It appears that Ubisoft is highly committed to eliminating unfair players and has implemented a comprehensive approach to prevent their presence in the game. Rainbow Six Siege can be played on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

Sources: Ubisoft, PC Gamer