Respawn has permanently banned more than 2,000 Apex Legends accounts after rolling out a new detection system targeting XIM input‑spoofing devices on console.
The fresh detection was quietly enabled this week and immediately flagged XIM users, triggering a wave of over 2,000 permanent bans across affected accounts, according to community reports and tracking by third‑party sites. This initiative builds directly on a January crackdown aimed at Titan‑series cheat devices, which had already seen more than 1,000 accounts permanently removed from Apex’s ecosystem. Together, the two waves signal a deliberate shift toward hunting hardware-based exploits rather than just traditional software cheats.
XIM adapters are what the console and peripherals connect to, acting as a translation device between mouse and keyboard input and controller input so that the game “believes” it is still being input into with a controller. In games such as Apex Legends, which do not support mouse and keyboard input on console, this allows a player to have the accuracy of mouse and keyboard while still being able to use the aim assist of a controller, giving a substantial and overt advantage. The terms of service on each platform consider these devices to be unlicensed peripherals, putting the use of XIM solidly into “cheating” territory.
Respawn’s action follows several months of community pressure, particularly in light of the positive reception of Riot’s Valorant console beta, which has been praised for its active detection and banning of XIM users from day one. EA and Respawn have publicly stated their intention to increase enforcement, having already seen more than 6 million total bans in Apex since its launch and now averaging over 100,000 bans per month for various types of cheats. More recent anti-cheating reports have also pointed out new measures targeting Direct Memory Access devices and bot farms, with more than 1,300 DMA accounts banned in a 2025 update, with further tools being introduced to lower “infection rates” in matches.
In ranked and high-level public matches, this XIM-specific round of enforcement is a message that input spoofing is no longer a gray area with low risk but a punishable offense with serious consequences.
