Game Cheat Market Generates Millions of Dollars in Revenue
Recent research has revealed that online game cheating generates millions of dollars in revenue worldwide. While only a few major cheat-selling platforms are reportedly generating millions of dollars annually, this situation is of serious concern to both game developers and players.
The Size of the Game Cheat Market is Staggering
Researchers from the Universities of Birmingham and Warwick in the UK have determined that approximately 80 different cheat-selling sites generate annual revenues between $12 million and $73 million. Some of these sites charge high prices because they offer tools that can bypass advanced anti-cheat software. Users can pay between $10 and $240 per month for these software.
| Site | Average Montly Traffic | Average 30 Day Cheat Price | Min Price | Max Price |
| Engine Owning | 509.720 | 13,80 $ | 10,89 $ | 19,59 $ |
| Sky Cheats | 197.463 | 92,43 $ | 35,00 $ | 130,00 $ |
| Battle Log | 194.463 | 72,84 $ | 19,90 $ | 145,75 $ |
| Kernaim | 189.338 | 41,13 $ | 16,50 $ | 60,00 $ |
| Lavi Cheats | 153.429 | 71,08 $ | 29,00 $ | 109,00 $ |
| Interwebz Cheats | 144.838 | 21,79 $ | 21,79 $ | 21,79 $ |
| Aimware | 135.784 | 19,16 $ | 17,24 $ | 22,99 $ |
| Ring-1 | 115.353 | 54,00 $ | 29,00 $ | 99,00 $ |
| Phantom Overlay | 87.528 | 32,55 $ | 19,96 $ | 43,24 $ |
| Clutch Solutions | 84.731 | 41,89 $ | 22,11 $ | 59,95 $ |
| AC Diamond | 84.410 | 81,33 $ | 49,00 $ | 120,00 $ |
| Private Cheatz | 78.166 | 99,79 $ | 24,99 $ | 174,99 $ |
| Aim Junkies | 62.063 | 44,12 $ | 14,95 $ | 99,95 $ |
| Time2Win | 54.415 | 68,84 $ | 29,99 $ | 119,99 $ |
| Veteran Cheats | 45.452 | 128,02 $ | 22,11 $ | 254,28 $ |
| Wallhax | 45.086 | 15,00 $ | 15,00 $ | 15,00 $ |
| Chod’s Cheats | 37.540 | 28,96 $ | 19,87 $ | 38,05 $ |
| Proofcore | 36.408 | 66,66 $ | 49,99 $ | 99,99 $ |
| Cheat Army | 31.100 | 62,36 $ | 17,50 $ | 110,00 $ |
| Perfect Aim | 12.524 | 17,87 $ | 6,63 $ | 35,38 $ |
| Invision Cheats | 10.757 | 49,75 $ | 11,06 $ | 66,33 $ |
Research shows that popular platforms like Engine Owning and Sky Cheats have tens of thousands of subscribers and receive hundreds of thousands of visits each month. Interestingly, the most significant factor determining cheat prices is the difficulty of bypassing anti-cheat systems, rather than the game’s popularity. Therefore, advanced security measures can indirectly act as a deterrent by increasing cheating costs.
Next-generation games like Battlefield 6 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 aim to counter such malware with additional security requirements like Windows Secure Boot and TPM 2.0. These methods detect anomalies by performing checks at the deepest levels of the system at startup. However, these systems, which operate at the kernel level, have drawn criticism from some players due to their potential security vulnerabilities.
Nevertheless, developers maintain that these measures, even if they don’t completely eliminate cheating, are crucial for preserving the game’s integrity. For example, during the Battlefield 6 open beta, tens of thousands of cheaters were detected, and more than 330,000 accounts were quickly banned. According to the researchers, increasing the cost of cheating will continue to be one of the most effective ways to protect the player experience.
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