THE FINALS players call for region lock to curb cheating endemic before release

The first days of THE FINALS beta have apparently been inundated with cheaters, according to the community, and it’s spurred on calls to region-lock one country.

Players have allegedly been encountering a never-ending supply of cheaters from China, with the likeliest problem—according to fans who took to social media on Oct. 29 to complain about the endemic—being a network setting.

These same THE FINALS players are begging Embark Studios to add region locks to keep the alleged cheaters contained.

The reasoning, most players said, comes from other fledgling FPS titles that faced these issues early in their own life cycles. Players Unknown Battlegrounds struggled with the same issue in its initial few months, leading to region locks in an attempt to quell the issue. Unfortunately for PUBG fans, the issue still remains today, despite the region lock.

The cheating endemic has already begun to drive away members of THE FINALS’ player base. With the beta being released less than a week ago, it’s a worrying sign when players call the experience “unbearable” already.

But, some gamers are looking to prevent history repeating itself again.

THE FINALS currently only allows players to report teammates inside online matches, leaving a cheater at the mercy of none other than the gamers they’re carrying to the victory. This is one of the issues players highlighted.

Players can report opponents once they’ve left their games via the social page or from the post-game leaderboard, but the community believes “it’s more hidden than it should be” this early in a game’s lifespan. By introducing report buttons inside matches, Embark will likely see more cheaters before players quit early.

Others recommended phone verification systems to cull the onslaught. Many games have tried this method to varying degrees of success, and titles like Overwatch 2 even had their own struggles attached to this method.

At least we can take solace in the fact THE FINALS is still in beta, so Embark is likely looking to solve this issue already. Dot Esports has reached out for more details.