If you think you’ve figured out a sneaky way to get ahead of the pack in Halo: Reach’s multiplayer, be warned: Bungie may be on to you, and they don’t take kindly to cheaters. The developer has announced that they recently discovered an in-game workaround many players have used to quickly accrue in-game credits, and they’ve since punished a whopping 15,000 players who exploited the glitch.
“Specifically, we targeted an exploit that allowed players to complete a Challenge 20+ times via intentional network manipulation (i.e., disconnects.),” Bungie explained in a forum post announcing the punishments. “Spot checks have revealed the telltale signature of this behavior on every denier so far, so don’t be fooled by the protests of innocence. We aren’t.”
As punishment, Bungie has wiped out the in-game credits of those found to be using the exploit. They also issued these players a one-day ban from earning credits, “mostly to ensure that recipients receive an in-game notification of the action taken.” Bungie also insists that “as with any such measure, we have taken the time to carefully select our criteria to eliminate false positives.”