A new analysis by the French Video Game Agency (AFJV) highlights that the global cheating ecosystem in video games is estimated to generate between $5.1 billion and $13.8 billion each year. These figures come from two separate reports: one by Intorqa in February and another from Activision's Ricochet team, released on September 18. According to Activision, the cheating market operates around three main components: subscription-based cheating tools, accounts used to bypass game restrictions, and software designed to evade hardware bans. Cheating tools are typically sold through monthly subscriptions, which can cost up to $100 per month, with some services charging even more. Other services within the cheating ecosystem include selling player accounts, boosting a player's rank, trading virtual currencies, selling in-game skins, and using software to mimic hardware devices. In August, Ricochet issued over 70,000 hardware bans to cheaters, but many repeat offenders use spoofing software to bypass these restrictions, making enforcement difficult. Estimating the true scale of this underground market is challenging due to the many variables and unknowns involved. Intorqa's research focused on 15 popular games, using data on the number of bans issued by developers, the assumed percentage of cheaters among players, and activity observed on online marketplaces. Their model estimated that subscriptions to cheating software alone generate around $3.53 billion annually, with a range between $2.08 billion and $5.75 billion. First-person shooter (FPS) and battle royale games make up 61% of this figure, while mobile games contribute 24%, and massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) account for 14%. Intorqa notes that their estimates do not cover all game genres or regions. When including related services such as account sales, boosting, and virtual currency transactions, the estimated total value of the cheating ecosystem ranges between $3 billion and $8 billion, with a median estimate of $5 billion. The reports suggest that as games become more competitive and monetization strategies become more aggressive, the incentives to cheat may increase. The authors of the studies propose two possible responses from the industry: continuing the "arms race" in anti-cheat technology or rethinking game design, security, and monetization strategies to reduce the appeal of cheating.