Some players on PC exploited a bug in Apex Legends for a while to protect themselves from losing ranked points. This bug works quite easily – but now leads to bans.
Why are there bans for this? In Apex Legends, players used the Alt+F4 key combination to invalidate matches that were thought to be lost in the Ranked mode, which was improved in Season 3.
Alt+F4 instantly closes the game. This is how players wanted to protect themselves from losing ranked points.
The participation in a ranked match costs points. If players do not survive long enough, they receive fewer points back than they invested and thus lose rating.
However, if the game is now closed using Alt+F4, the game registers it as an involuntary exit – as if one was kicked due to technical errors. This activates a protective mechanism.
This mechanism evaluates the defeat as an error and no RP will be deducted from either you or your teammates.
Temporary Bans for Alt+F4
How severe are the penalties? Respawn has announced that players who exploit this bug will be temporarily banned. Some have likely already been affected:
The exact duration of the penalties has not yet been detailed and likely depends on several factors. However, there has not yet been talk of permanent bans.
A fix for the problem does not seem to be available yet. The bug can still be exploited. Therefore, we recommend always exiting the game through the designated options instead of using the key combination, as this could lead to penalties.
Could this also happen on PS4 and Xbox One? A similar bug circulated on Xbox One as well. Here, players could prevent the loss of ranked points by closing Apex Legends through the dashboard.
The current ban wave, however, only concerns PC users. No comparable bug has become known on PS4 so far.
