It’s official! We are builders at our core, and today we’re proud to introduce Kestrel, our next-generation anti-cheat system powered by machine learning. It’s hard to overstate how big of a problem cheating can be, especially in a game where every in-game item can have real-world monetary value. After almost two years of running Off The Grid live, we’ve learned one important lesson: existing anti-cheat technologies simply aren’t enough to fully protect players and support a truly decentralized gaming economy. We realized that if we wanted to make this vision work, we had to build something fundamentally better than what’s currently available on the market. So we did. Kestrel introduces an entirely new approach to cheat detection. Instead of relying on traditional methods, Kestrel uses machine learning to analyze player behavior and recognize unique human motor signatures. Every player has distinct movement patterns that are extremely difficult for cheats to replicate. This opens up another major possibility: identifying and banning cheaters based on their unique behavioral signatures rather than just their hardware. In other words, switching computers or devices may no longer be enough to evade a ban. And here’s another important difference: Kestrel operates entirely on the server side. There’s no client-side anti-cheat software for attackers to disable or directly reverse-engineer. The detection system remains a black box from the cheater’s perspective. We believe this represents a fundamental shift in how the gaming industry can fight cheating, and we’re excited to make this technology available beyond our own games. Starting today, Kestrel is available in Off The Grid and to third-party developers worldwide.

The most famous game in the world, the game our generation grew up with, myself included, is now sharing never-before-seen insights into the upcoming GTA VI, choosing Game Informer for the exclusive reveal. A huge moment for the team and for the entire gaming industry. Congrats to everyone involved. Can’t wait to open the magazine myself!