Tfue runs into hacker as cheating in Fortnite remains a problem

Olivia Richman Published 05/09/2019

A hacker more than frustrated Fortnite pro Turner “Tfue” Tenney during a recent stream.

During a live stream, Tfue was trekking through Dusty Depot when a player shot him multiple times. Two of the four shots were headshots which landed before Tfue could even respond. Tfue immediately suspected his opponent of cheating, based on the accuracy at such a far distance.

Wanting to confirm his suspicions, Tfue began to specate the player.

“That is not a controller. That is aimbot,” Tfue said after watching the player get a few more eliminations.

While spectating, Tfue watched his opponent get a second elimination on a player that was 73 meters away. After landing headshots on three other victims, it became quite clear to Tfue that the player was using a controller, but also using an aimbot, which is a popular hack on PC.

“Did they really need to nerf aim assist, dude? This is ridiculous,” Tfue joked, referencing a feature that helps controller players have the same accuracy and precise movements as a player on keyboard and mouse.

Of course, the player wasn’t just using plain old aim assist, which only helps players by moving a player’s crosshair towards an opponent when they aim down their sights repeatedly. The player that Tfue was spectating wasn’t even pausing to aim down his sights. Instead, he was aiming and shooting without any visible pause for accuracy. This is typical of players using aim hacks.

Cheating remains a problem in Fortnite

Since Tfue couldn’t identify the player, it was assumed that it was a smurf account. This was further verified because of the player’s lack of skins or custom emotes. The match that Tfue captured was also casual, not anything ranked in Arena.

Unfortunately, cheating is quite common in the free-to-play battle royale title.

During the Fortnite World Cup, 1,221 people were caught cheating in the first week alone. Over 200 of those players had won monetary prizes that week using the cheats. Of those 206 players, 196 prize winners had found ways to circumvent the game’s region lock, which allowed them to log into different regions.

Epic banned these cheaters for only 14 days.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because infamous World Cup cheater, and eventual qualifier, Damion “Rise XXiF” Cook was only suspended for 14 days after it was revealed that his friends had purposely let him eliminate them for extra points. This short suspension angered the Fortnite community, especially when XXiF was able to enter the qualifiers after his suspension, ultimately qualifying for the World Cup and winning a good chunk of change.

After the incident, many in the community asked Epic to make their punishments stricter. But so far, it seems that Epic is just fine with a 14-day suspension for cheating.

Olivia Richman

About Olivia Richman

Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.

View full profile