Dear Developers,
I’m writing to express a growing frustration shared by many in the community. The cheating problem in the game has reached a critical point, and it's driving players away in large numbers. What was once mostly confined to Hourglass battles is now spreading into the open sea. We’re seeing blatant cheating—players teleporting between ships, quickscoping with unnatural precision, and generally ruining the experience for others. It’s become a weekly occurrence to encounter cheaters, and for many, Hourglass is mostly completely unplayable. You can continue adding new content, but without addressing the cheating issue head-on, the player base will not return. Content alone cannot fix a broken experience. The longer this goes unresolved, the more the player count will decline. This isn’t about punishing skilled players. With thousands of hours invested, we know the difference between legitimate gameplay and cheating. Many cheats are glaringly obvious: players jumping into the water and appearing at a mast a second later (teleporting), or snapping between targets with unnatural accuracy at maximum distance. These aren’t edge cases—they’re weekly occurrences.
Another major concern is the loophole on Steam somebody told me: (I`m a Xbox App Player and cant confirm that) cheaters can simply unlink their Xbox account on Steam, create a new Xbox Account for free, link it and return to the game without any real consequences. (not even Real Life consequences - to buy the game again) This undermines the integrity of your ban system and makes it far too easy for repeat offenders to re-enter the game. Implementing a mandatory hard link between the Xbox account and the Steam account is not optional—it is essential. Without it, the system remains fundamentally flawed and open to abuse.
The community has been vocal about introducing a delayed participation system for Hourglass. For example, requiring players to reach Pirate Legend before unlocking the mode would give newcomers time to learn the game and avoid accidentally opting into PvP without understanding what it entails. It would also help filter out throwaway accounts used by cheaters. This wont protect the open Sea but its a first step to protect a part of the game.
Lastly, your recent decision to reinstate previously banned players has sparked widespread outrage. I haven’t seen a single community member support this move. Reintroducing toxic players doesn’t benefit the game—it risks alienating new players who may leave after bad experience with those toxic guys. Giving second chances to those who broke the rules sends the wrong message and damages the trust of loyal players.
Many of us love this game and want to see it thrive. But right now, it feels like it's being slowly dismantled by poor decisions and unchecked cheating. Please listen to the community before it’s too late.
And yes—cheaters can be reported. I’ve tried it myself. But without video evidence, no action is taken. Most casual players don’t record every session unless they’re streamers. Even Streamers are frustrated about the reporting system. Also when multiple reports are submitted against the same player, nothing happens. These accounts aren’t even flagged for monitoring. The sad truth is, most players laugh when you suggest reporting a cheater—because the feeling in the community is that Rare doesn’t care. It’s frustrating to see that even after years of development, Easy Anti-Cheat still fails to detect basic exploits like teleportation and speed hacks—cheats that games from two decades ago were already capable of flagging. Other titles have long implemented tracking systems that monitor player movement patterns to catch unnatural behavior. Why is this still missing here? The current anti-cheat system is simply not keeping pace with the problem. If you want to protect the integrity of the game, more effort must be invested in detecting actual cheats—not just relying on outdated detection methods. The community is ready to help, but legitimate players need better tools to support you in this fight. Reporting systems, replay analysis, and in-game telemetry could empower us to flag suspicious behavior more effectively.
Sincerely, A concerned player
