Column: Has EA Killed WRC With Latest Anti-cheat Update?

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Images: EA Sports
In the latest EA Sports WRC update, 1.9.0, the new EA anti-cheat technology was added. Security issues and privacy violations have been listed as just two of the potential issues with this new mandatory anti-cheat update.

EA Sports WRC has been in hot water ever since the latest update dropped on PC. The update included the latest variant of EA's anti-cheat that ruins the online aspect of WRC for Steamdeck users and potentially compromises every PC that the game is installed on...

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Hyundai Rally1 WRC.

What is the new EA anti-cheat?​

The truth about the EA anti-cheat is that is it what is known as 'Kernel malware'. This virus is installed with an external program, like a video game, and gives the owner full access to a PC.

EA has specifically stated that the technology will be limited to just the anti-cheat abilities. Unfortunately, EA does not have a good track record with their invasive game updates. The security of the EA anti-cheat is also a huge risk. The program links all accounts together, so if a hacker gets in they will have access to any data they want.


Flocks of players are leaving and uninstalling the game because of this security risk. EA Sports has yet to remove this new invasion of privacy, but with players actively rioting on X, surely it is only a matter of time?

Is This a Security Risk?​

The short answer is, it could be. The power of this anti-cheat Facaded malware is that it latches onto your PC from its core. It has access to all of your files, folders and even website cookies and history. It could corrupt your files or even worse, your operating system. This would effectively write your PC off and everything on it as well.

EA have a history of weak coding protection protocols and an even worse reputation for general security. These breaches could have catastrophic consequences in a worst-case scenario. For a more detailed breakdown of this software, check out the video below.


So what is the fix? It is as simple as you are thinking. Revert the system and remove the kernel malware from the game and the player's PC. Nobody signed up to have this software installed on their computer when they bought the game, so EA needs to rethink its implementation of this anti-cheat software.

Broken Platforms and Features​

The other major impact this update has is on SteamDeck players. This new update completely breaks the game for those users. This new anti-cheat is a fully built-in house piece of software that replaces and removes the title's compatibility with anything that isn't Windows, like Linux and SteamOS for example.

The other big hit is for the VR players. VR was one of the flagship aspects of the game throughout its first few months. With a game as immersive and detailed as WRC, not fixing the VR issues is a massive slap in the face for those who play the game in that way.

We really want to hear from you, our community, about how this will affect your opinion of EA and their WRC game as a whole. Let us know in the comments below!
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Connor Minniss
Website Content Editor & Motorsport Photographer aiming to bring you the best of the best within the world of sim racing.

Comments

EA already killed WRC for me due to it being an inferior rallying game compared to any other (due to it's state at launch, meh graphics, worse performance, flat and boring roads therefore stages, and poor VR support).

This new invasive anti-cheat being snuck in far beyond post-launch is just another nail in WRC's coffin that was already closed tight.
 
Premium
Pretty sensationalist article, might be a popcorn-worthy thread ...

Points I expect to get discussed are:

People cheat / mess around in multiplayer games when they're anonymous, as if you get banned you can just register another throwaway account.

Any game wanting mass-market appeal can't have a real names policy - too much work and it would put off casual players.

So any online multiplayer game that wants to be popular will have to deal with griefers - this isn't a new thing, but ...

Knowing the above, EA should have built an anti-cheat system into the game before launch so buyers knew what they were getting - however ...

I'm pretty sure EA's legal dept. wrote their non-skippable T&C to allow them to make such changes - if you own the game you did read the T&C's before installing, right?

As to the security, any extra kernel level software increases the attack surface of your PC, and all software is potentially buggy - however ...

The hackers capable of breaking it probably have far more lucrative targets than gaming PCs.

Or maybe not, if the same anti-cheat code gets installed widely enough it becomes a valuable target for botnets - the article isn't clear if EA use this code in any of their other games.

So on one hand, forcing users to install potentially dodgy and intrusive software after buying the game is a bit scummy, and EA do have a rep as being slightly more scummy than some other publishers.

On the other hand they're within their rights, and if you want to play the game this is the price you now have to pay, as EA think this is preferable to the cheating situation. Which must be pretty bad?

On the gripping hand, I can remember several occasions in the past when (some of) the player base of an EA game were outraged at their antics and threatened boycotts etc - and yet here we are, as EA are run by MBAs and not gamers, so this is how they roll.

And as long as they keep making a profit the players can moan online all they like, it won't change a thing, though you might find it cathartic :)
 
Club Staff
Premium
Flocks of players are leaving and uninstalling the game because of this security risk. EA Sports has yet to remove this new invasion of privacy, but with players actively rioting on X, surely it is only a matter of time?

Hmmm
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I mean, the EA WRC Player-numbers are awful, and there's just been a summer-sale. We'll still have to wait a bit to actually see the effects.
 
Honestly I think I'm going to try my luck with a refund. I've only got 78 minutes in it as it ran like a sick dog's excrement on release and I never went back to it. That said I'm way outside the 2 week refund window.

Even so I think that the fact the EA has effectively changed the terms of the original sale stands me in relatively good stead. Plus the fact that I don't have much of a history with requesting refunds on Steam.

If EA were to offer the option of playing it offline without the anti-cheat then I would be OK with that, especially given that it's predominantly a single player game. However given that it is predominantly a single player game it beggars belief as to why EA thought that anti-cheat running at a kernel level was a good idea.
 
The most frustrating part is that EA WRC was surely going to prove that a multi-year cycle between releases with season updates in between is a better future for sports titles. The 2024 roadmap update was everything I was hoping for, as Codemasters would have more time to develop a true sequel, but we still get the 2024 season and more.

If only they hadn't done the anti-cheat thing first, WRC could be sitting on Mostly Positive on Steam with a wave of good recent reviews. Instead, the roadmap now feels meaningless as there's no point having a multi-year game if the PC demographic has been alienated twice over. You can always buy it on console instead and that is what I did because of Denuvo, but PC is the primary demographic of most sim racing titles and if they're not happy, the game will fail no matter how good it becomes on my PS5.
 
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Yeah at this point anyone complaining about this is in the wrong in my opinion. The terms and conditions that EA made for this game were also very clear, since they clearly mention "EA" right in the beginning.
 
Betteridge's law of headlines says:

No.

Apart from that: Running your Steam client with admin rights is the same security risk, and nobody cares about that...
 
Sorry my english is not very best. So is it potentially dangerous to play the game now or just to have it still installed?
Can someone enlighten me plz?
 
Wrote it already in the previous topic about WRC....
In shorts words: Uninstalled short after v1.8 and that was the right way.
Dont belive that they will roll it back.
EA has a big talent to find a way to kill themselvs
 

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