The Ultimate 2025 List: 30+ Major Games That Use Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) And Why It Matters
Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) has solidified its position as the industry-leading anti-cheat service, protecting hundreds of the biggest multiplayer titles from hackers and cheaters. As of late 2024 and heading into 2025, the list of games relying on this powerful, kernel-level solution continues to grow, making it a critical piece of software for any serious PC gamer.
The anti-cheat landscape is constantly evolving, but EAC remains a dominant force, especially since its acquisition by Epic Games. If you're looking to jump into the most popular competitive or co-op online experiences, understanding which games use EAC is essential, not just for security but also for ensuring compatibility with platforms like the Steam Deck and Linux.
The Essential List: 30+ Major Games Protected by Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC)
Easy Anti-Cheat is integrated into over 400 titles on Steam alone, and countless others across the Epic Games Store and various launchers. This comprehensive list focuses on the most popular, high-profile, and recently updated games that currently utilize EAC to maintain competitive integrity. The service employs a hybrid anti-cheat approach, combining client-side monitoring with server-side analysis to detect and ban cheaters in real-time.
Massive AAA and Battle Royale Titles
- Apex Legends: A flagship title for EAC, ensuring fair play in the high-stakes battle royale environment.
- Fortnite: As a game owned by Epic Games (the parent company of EAC), its protection is a given and a key showcase for the technology.
- Elden Ring: One of the biggest action RPGs to adopt EAC for its multiplayer component, protecting players from invaders using unfair advantages.
- Destiny 2: Bungie relies on EAC to safeguard its massive, persistent world and competitive PvP modes.
- Rust: The brutal survival game uses EAC to fight against the persistent problem of hacking on its high-population servers.
- Halo: The Master Chief Collection: Protecting the legacy of one of gaming's biggest franchises across its extensive multiplayer suite.
- New World: Amazon Games' MMORPG uses EAC to secure its large-scale PvP and world events.
Popular Multiplayer and Co-op Experiences
- Dead by Daylight: The popular asymmetrical horror game uses EAC to protect both survivors and killers from exploitation.
- 7 Days to Die: A long-running survival horror game that depends on EAC for its multiplayer stability.
- Rogue Company: Hi-Rez Studios' tactical shooter is another title that has successfully implemented EAC.
- Fall Guys: The colorful, chaotic party game uses EAC to keep the competition honest, especially in its ranked modes.
- Paladins: The hero shooter from Hi-Rez Studios uses the service alongside its sister title, Smite.
- Smite: Another major MOBA that trusts EAC for its competitive scene.
- BattleBit Remastered: The low-poly, large-scale shooter quickly adopted EAC to handle its massive player base and high-intensity combat.
- War Thunder: Gaijin Entertainment utilizes EAC for its cross-platform military MMO.
Fighting and Strategy Games
- Mortal Kombat 1: The latest entry in the iconic fighting series uses EAC to maintain fair online matches.
- Dragon Ball FighterZ: A popular anime fighting game that integrates EAC for its competitive online play.
- Tekken 8: The newest installment in the long-running fighting franchise.
Other Notable EAC Users
- SCUM
- Insurgency: Sandstorm
- Squad
- Grounded
- The Division 2
- Hunt: Showdown
- Black Desert Online
- Crossout
- PlanetSide 2
- Darwin Project
- Battalion 1944
- Warface
This extensive roster demonstrates the trust that major game developers, from Bungie and Epic Games to FromSoftware and Hi-Rez Studios, place in EAC’s ability to protect their competitive ecosystems. The sheer volume of games using the service makes it the most widespread third-party anti-cheat solution in PC gaming today.
Understanding Easy Anti-Cheat’s Kernel-Level Technology
The primary reason for EAC's effectiveness, and sometimes controversy, lies in its architecture. Easy Anti-Cheat operates as a kernel-level anti-cheat system. This is a crucial technical detail that sets it apart from simpler, user-mode anti-cheats like Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC).
What is Kernel-Level?
The "kernel" is the core of an operating system (OS), managing the system's hardware and software. Kernel-level access means EAC runs with the highest level of privilege on your PC, essentially acting as a driver.
- Deeper Detection: This deep access allows EAC to monitor all system processes, memory, and hardware interactions, making it highly effective at detecting sophisticated cheats that try to hide outside the game's normal memory space. Cheats often operate at the kernel level themselves, so the anti-cheat must also operate there to counter them.
- Security Concerns: The trade-off for this power is the inevitable security concern. Granting any third-party software, even one owned by Epic Games, kernel-level access raises questions among some users about privacy and the potential for a vulnerability to be exploited. However, EAC's developers continuously work to patch and secure the system.
- Hybrid Approach: EAC is often described as a hybrid anti-cheat because it combines this powerful kernel-level monitoring with server-side checks and machine learning algorithms to identify suspicious player behavior that might not be caught by simple code detection.
The move to kernel-level anti-cheat has become a necessary evil for competitive multiplayer games. Without it, modern, complex cheats—often sold as subscription services—would quickly destroy the competitive integrity of titles like *Apex Legends* and *Destiny 2*.
EAC and the Rise of Linux Gaming (Steam Deck Compatibility)
One of the most significant recent developments concerning Easy Anti-Cheat is its improved compatibility with the Linux operating system, which is the foundation of the Steam Deck handheld console. This was a massive win for the PC gaming community and a testament to Valve's work with the Proton compatibility layer.
A Shift in Compatibility
Initially, EAC was a major roadblock for Linux users. Games that used it would simply not run through Proton, Valve's tool that allows Windows games to run on Linux. However, following the launch of the Steam Deck, EAC developers worked closely with Valve to streamline the process for game developers to enable Linux and Proton support.
- Developer Choice: It's important to note that EAC support for Linux is not automatic. Game developers still need to actively flip a switch and update their EAC configuration to enable it.
- Major Successes: Many of the biggest EAC-protected games, including *Elden Ring*, *Halo: The Master Chief Collection*, and *Apex Legends*, have successfully enabled this compatibility, making them fully playable on the Steam Deck.
- Ongoing Issues: While the situation has dramatically improved, some EAC titles still lack full Linux support, often due to the developer not yet implementing the necessary update. This is why checking the latest compatibility lists is still crucial for Steam Deck owners.
This focus on cross-platform functionality demonstrates EAC’s commitment to supporting the evolving gaming ecosystem, ensuring that players are not locked out of their favorite multiplayer experiences just because they choose to play on a different platform.
The Future of EAC: Performance, Bans, and Competitors
As the primary defense for hundreds of games, EAC is constantly in the spotlight, facing scrutiny over its performance impact and the effectiveness of its ban waves.
Performance and Stability
A common concern with any kernel-level software is its impact on system resources. While modern versions of EAC are highly optimized, some users occasionally report minor performance dips or conflicts with other software. However, for most users, the performance overhead is negligible and a necessary trade-off for a cheat-free environment.
EAC vs. BattlEye
Easy Anti-Cheat's main competitor in the third-party space is BattlEye. Both are powerful, kernel-level solutions that protect massive titles (*PUBG* uses BattlEye, for example). Developers often choose between the two based on integration ease, cost, and specific feature sets. EAC's edge often comes from its ownership by Epic Games, providing seamless integration with the Epic Games Store and a vast network of resources.
The Fight Against Cheating
The battle between anti-cheat developers and cheat makers is a continuous arms race. EAC's real-time monitoring and frequent updates are designed to stay one step ahead. When a new exploit or anti-cheat bypass is discovered, EAC's team works quickly to deploy a fix, often resulting in massive, coordinated ban waves that remove thousands of cheaters from the ecosystem, reinforcing competitive integrity for the honest player base.
In 2025, Easy Anti-Cheat remains the gatekeeper for a huge portion of the multiplayer gaming world. For players, its presence is a sign that the developer is serious about maintaining a fair and enjoyable experience, whether you're dropping into *Fortnite* on a PC or exploring the Lands Between in *Elden Ring* on a Steam Deck.
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