Datamining—the practice of dissecting game files to find traces of cut content or hints to upcoming DLC—has always been a contentious topic among developers and ordinary players alike. Respawn Entertainment, however, the developer behind Titanfall and Apex Legends, has thrown down the gauntlet by permanently banning Osvoldatore and Hypermyst, two of the best-known Apex dataminers, on Sept. 29.
The extent of their datamining was exposing details on upcoming maps and skins before their official implementation in the game—in many live-service multiplayer games like Apex, data from future updates will be packed into the current release to make implementation easier. Osvoldatore and Hypermyst scraped this data and shared it on social media, amassing tens of thousands of followers between them by giving the game’s dedicated audience a sneak peek on what was to come, but Respawn was apparently having none of it, per a recent announcement from Hypermyst.
It’s interesting that the given reason is “cheating,” seeing as datamining doesn’t actually involve modifying the game files and knowing what Loba’s next unlockable skin is going to be or what game mode next season is going to add doesn’t exactly give players any kind of meaningful tactical advantage. The ban itself was likely manual since automated detection wouldn’t have picked up datamining, meaning that, as Hypermyst surmised, they were handed out personally by Respawn developers.
On the one hand, Respawn’s stance is understandable. Seeing works in progress being shown off before their proper debut isn’t great for any kind of creator. More cynically, early reveals of this nature can throw off marketing timelines. Respawn is within its rights to do this, as it happens—Section 6 of the Electronic Arts User Agreement, which every Apex player must agree to and which you can read in full here, specifically prohibits its users employing “any robot, spider or other automated device or process to access EA Services for any purpose such as scraping data, abuse EA Services, account creation, or copying material.” Sounds a lot like datamining.
On the other hand, datamining is a great tool for organically building hype in a community—you just need to look at all the people who follow Hypermyst and Osvoldatore to see that. When players love a game, they’ll go to any lengths to stay up to date on new and exciting content. Apex players are already decrying Respawn’s decision in the replies of the post linked above, and one has to wonder if it would have been wiser for Respawn to lean into it and use datamining as a sort of unofficial teaser for what lies ahead.
Whether this decision changes or the dataminers are unbanned is up in the air, but one way or another, this could set a precedent for others. Respawn’s actions send a clear message: don’t touch our stuff, and we won’t ban you.
