Shocking! EA is Permanently Banning Linux Gamers on Battlefield V

Only when I thought that EA as a game company might be getting better after its decision to make its games available on Steam – but it looks like that isn’t the case.

In a Reddit thread, a lot of Linux players seem to complain about getting banned by FairFight (which is the server-side anti-cheat engine used for BF V) just because they chose to play Battlefield V (BF V) on Linux using Wine.

Is this a widespread issue?

Unfortunately, it seems to be the case with a number of Linux players using Wine to play Battlefield V on Linux.

You can also find users on Lutris Gaming forums and Battlefield forums talking about it.

Of course, the userbase on Linux playing Battlefield V isn’t huge – but it still matters, right?

What’s exactly the issue here?

It looks like EA’s anti-cheat tech considers DXVK (Vulkan-based implementation of DirectX which tries to solve compatibility issues) as cheating.

So, basically, the compatibility layer that is being utilized to make it possible to run Battlefield V is being detected as a modified file through which you’re “potentially” cheating.

Battlefield V on Lutris

Even though this could be an innocent problem for the anti-cheat engine but EA does not seem to acknowledge that at all.

Here’s what they respond with when one of the players wrote an email to EA in order to lift the ban:

After thoroughly investigating your account and concern, we found that your account was actioned correctly and will not remove this sanction from your account.

Also, with all this going on, Lutris Gaming seems to be quite furious on EA’s behavior with the permanent bans:

It has come to our attention that several Battlefield 5 players have recently been banned for playing on Linux, and that EA has chosen not to revert these wrongful punishments. Due to this, we advise to refrain from playing any multiplayer games published by @EA in the future.

— Lutris Gaming (@LutrisGaming) January 2, 2020

Not just Battlefield V, it’s the same with Destiny 2

As pointed by a Redditor in the same thread, Bungie also happens to consider Wine as an emulator (which is against their policy) and has banned players on Linux a while back.

EA needs to address the issue

We have reached out to EA for a comment on the issue. And, we’re still waiting for a response.

I shall update the article if we have an official response from EA. However, considering Blizzard as an example, they should actually work on fixing the issue and reverse the bans on players using Linux.

I know that BF V does not offer native Linux support – but supporting the compatibility layer and not considering it as cheating would allow Linux users to experience the game which they rightfully own (or considering to purchase).

What are your thoughts on this? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

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