Respawn quickly fixed a security incident that allowed Apex Legends hackers to remotely control other players’ characters.
Another Apex Legends hack, this time in the form of a hijack, has once again marred players. Respawn Entertainment has investigated and fixed an issue that allowed hackers to control another player's characters.
This mirrors previous hacking incidents from previous years, which saw hackers taking over accounts.
Apex Legends Jan. 2026 hack incident resolved
Respawn first acknowledged the incident in the afternoon of Jan. 9 after reports started circulating within the community. This acknowledgement included initial findings.
"Based on our initial investigation, we have not identified evidence that suggests the bad actors can install or execute code as in the case of an RCE or injection attack," wrote Respawn via a post on X. "We are actively working on a solution and will update you when we have more information."
In this context, RCE stands for "Remote Code Execution." This is when bad actors can run malicious code on victims' systems, and is considered a severe cybersecurity issue. Respawn assured the Apex Legends player base that this was not a possibility for the hackers.
Later that same evening, Respawn confirmed that the issue has been resolved.
"This incident is now resolved with the help of our community. Anti-Cheat is a constant cat-and-mouse game and your reports are imperative to bringing information to our attention, including the one that helped us today," wrote Respawn. "Thanks for your patience as our teams jumped to tackle and resolve this issue."
Community sentiment
While the case was quickly resolved, which a part of the vocal player base is thankful for, there are still some who raise concerns amidst the continuous battle against cheaters and exploiters.
Many mention the players who abuse the controller advantage using third-party tools like Titan, which falls under Anti-Cheat. Security and integrity concerns are also elevated by the fact that the ALGS Year 5 Championship is just right around the corner.
No matter their thoughts on this specific incident, one thing is globally agreed on: cheaters and hackers do not belong in Apex Legends.
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