ALGS secretly finishes event ruined by Apex Legends hacker
Joe Brady/ ALGSALGS completed the North American Regional Final in secret, without a live stream, following the massive hack during last week’s competition.
The high-profile hack of multiple Apex Legends pros during the ALGS NA Regional Final caused quite a problem for Respawn as the developer had to deal with its digital vulnerability while keeping its esports circuit on track.
The solution the company came to was to finish the competition in secret, without a live stream, audience, or advertising. Observant pro Apex fans noticed on March 25 that no one in the NA league was streaming and that many pros were in custom lobbies. This led many to speculate that the players were finishing up under the radar.
TSM’s Phillip ‘ImperialHal’ Dosen, one of the victims of the hack, confirmed the secret competition on social media after its conclusion and posted the results. He also said the matches will be broadcast on March 26 and that he will upload a video to his YouTube channel for fans to watch the competition from his perspective.
“Yes TSM Won. Yes, we did it off stream Yes we are going to f****** LAN. We are back baby,” he said.
While Respawn has said that they are working on the vulnerability on their end, the developer did not want to leave even a small chance that Destroyer2009, or any other hacker, could impact the integrity of the competition.
With the NA Regional Final completed, the Split 1 ALGS Playoffs roster of qualified teams has been filled out. North American squads should have ample time to get their travel and accommodations to attend the LAN tournament set to start in May in Los Angeles. Respawn and its cyber security team will have a few months to get their systems in check as online pro Apex competition does not resume until after the LAN tournament.
The hacking and cheating issue in Apex Legends is far from over, however, as even Hal has said that the game’s Ranked mode is still full of people using exploits to rank up.
