Gaming
Playing Dirty: Research Reveals The Nationalities That Cheat The Most At Video Games
- UK gamers ranked 16th – more likely to cheat than their Aussie counterparts, but less likely to do so than players in the US
- Russia, Italy and Israel are the top three countries that cheat at gaming the most
- The US placed as the 11th worst cheaters, with Texas, California and Nevada residents revealed as the three most likely states to use a cheat code
- Gamers in Iceland are the most likely to cheat at the Assassin’s Creed series, Turkey takes the crown for GTA, while UK gamers are the biggest culprits for Animal Crossing cheats
Many people use video game cheat codes to boost their chances of winning, but which nation is home to the world’s biggest cheaters? Uswitch did the research to find out, and it’s revealed Russia, Italy, Israel, Japan and Sweden are the top five countries where gamers cheat the most.
The World’s Biggest Gaming Cheaters
By analysing Google search volume data, Uswitch calculated how many people were actively seeking ‘cheat codes’, ‘cheats’ and cheat codes for specific games, in every country around the world, along with every state in the US.
The search volumes were then adjusted to account for each country’s population to create an index score, to make sure the data compared like for like. The results expose the top 20 countries most likely to cheat while playing video games.
The top 20 countries that cheat the most at video games (and the cheating index score):
Position | Country | Index ranking score |
1 | Russia | 18.40 |
2 | Italy | 16.58 |
3 | Israel | 4.87 |
4 | Japan | 4.48 |
5 | Sweden | 4.03 |
6 | Romania | 3.13 |
7 | Portugal | 2.36 |
8 | Turkey | 2.34 |
9 | Brazil | 2.32 |
10 | Denmark | 2.28 |
11 | United States | 2.10 |
12 | Ireland | 2.00 |
13 | Argentina | 1.92 |
14 | Poland | 1.77 |
15 | Croatia | 1.52 |
16 | United Kingdom | 1.43 |
17 | New Zealand | 1.41 |
18 | Canada | 1.35 |
19 | Australia | 1.28 |
20 | Bulgaria | 1.13 |
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A
Half the countries in the top 20 are in Europe – Italy, Sweden, Romania, Portugal and Denmark all make the top 10, and gamers in the United Kingdom ranked as the 16th most notorious cheaters.
The US falls just outside of the top 10, in 11th position. Close behind in 12th is Ireland, Canada comes in in 18th and Bulgaria rounds off the list in 20th position.
From Minecraft to Mario Kart – Which countries cheat the most at different games?
The study also looked into more than 50 of the world’s most popular video games to discover which country cheated the most at each game. Interestingly, Iceland features a massive 18 times – being found to cheat the most for a wide array of games, from the stealthy Assassin’s Creed series to beloved titles like Super Mario.
Malta clocks up eight appearances for games including the classic Resident Evil and Tomb Raider franchises, along with Borderlands and Crash Bandicoot. Turkey, Germany and Ireland all have three mentions and the UK appears twice, coming in as the biggest cheaters at Animal Crossing and LEGO Marvel Superheroes.
The no.1 country that cheats the most at different video games (and their cheating index score):
Game | Country | Index ranking score |
Animal Crossing | United Kingdom | 0.35 |
Ark | Turkey | 0.37 |
Assassin’s Creed | Iceland | 0.15 |
Battlefield | Iceland | 0.09 |
Bioshock | Iceland | 0.15 |
Borderlands | Malta | 0.05 |
Call of Duty | Belize | 0.28 |
Crash Bandicoot | Malta | 0.27 |
Crysis | Iceland | 0.21 |
Death Stranding | Slovenia | 0.03 |
Doom | Iceland | 0.50 |
Fable | New Zealand | 0.04 |
Fallout 4 | Germany | 0.66 |
Far Cry | Malta | 0.18 |
Final Fantasy | Indonesia | 0.31 |
Fortnite | Germany | 0.46 |
Forza | New Zealand | 0.03 |
Ghost of Tsushima | Italy | 0.03 |
Gran Turismo | Indonesia | 4.77 |
Grand Theft Auto | Turkey | 2.74 |
LEGO Marvel Superheroes | United Kingdom | 0.44 |
LEGO Star Wars | Iceland | 0.26 |
Little Big Planet | Ireland | 0.01 |
Mafia | Czech Republic (Czechia) | 0.29 |
Mario Kart | Barbados | 0.10 |
Metal Gear Solid | Iceland | 0.12 |
Minecraft | Turkey | 5.40 |
Mortal Kombat | Indonesia | 0.28 |
NBA 2K | Iceland | 0.29 |
Need for Speed | Iceland | 0.18 |
No Man’s Sky | Iceland | 0.15 |
Pokémon | Barbados | 0.70 |
RDR2 | Ireland | 1.19 |
Red Dead Redemption | Iceland | 0.50 |
Resident Evil | Malta | 0.07 |
Rocket League | Iceland | 0.29 |
The Sims | Netherlands | 2.12 |
Skate 3 | New Zealand | 0.43 |
Skyrim | Germany | 1.15 |
Sonic The Hedgehog | Ireland | 0.03 |
Spider-Man | Iceland | 0.12 |
Spyro | Malta | 0.29 |
Starcraft | Iceland | 0.44 |
Super Mario | Iceland | 0.26 |
Tekken | Malta | 0.04 |
The Last of Us | Iceland | 0.18 |
The Witcher | Malta | 0.07 |
Tomb Raider | Malta | 0.09 |
Tony Hawks | New Zealand | 0.02 |
Uncharted | Iceland | 0.12 |
Warcraft | Iceland | 0.26 |
Which US states cheat the most at video games?
According to the study, gamers in Texas are more likely to cheat than any other US state, and California, Nevada, Georgia and New Mexico make up the rest of the top five.
When looking at the specific index scores of each US state – although none are as high as Russia’s or Italy’s in the worldwide list – Texas’ score of 2.6 is roughly around the same level as Portugal, which made it to 7th place in the global analysis.
The top 10 US states that cheat the most at video games (and the cheating index score):
Position | US State | Index ranking score |
1 | Texas | 2.60 |
2 | California | 2.25 |
3 | Nevada | 2.19 |
4 | Georgia | 2.12 |
5 | New Mexico | 2.06 |
6 | Hawaii | 2.03 |
7 | North Carolina | 2.02 |
8 | New York | 1.90 |
9 | Maryland | 1.88 |
10 | Tennessee | 1.81 |
To see the full research, including the top 50 countries that cheat at video games the most, visit: https://www.uswitch.com/broadband/worlds-biggest-gaming-cheaters/
Gaming
Midjiwan Supports Reforestation Efforts With New Elyrion Tribe Skin In The Battle Of Polytopia
Midjiwan, the award-winning independent studio behind The Battle of Polytopia, is celebrating Elyrion (∑∫ỹriȱŋ) Tribe Week with a brand-new Midnight (₼idŋighţ) skin and donations to support reforestation.
Tapping into the Elyrion Tribe’s nature magic abilities, every purchase of an Elyrion item in the game will plant one real-world tree from April 22-28 2024. Midjiwan has teamed up with The Canopy Project, an organisation that works with global partners to reforest areas in urgent need of rehabilitation, combining The Battle Of Polytopia’s themes with a desire to make real change in the world. Previous years of Elyrion Tribe Week have resulted in the planting of over 12,000 trees.
The Elyrion Tribe is a mysterious group of elves, dedicated to defending their woodland home with their unique magic and connection with nature. Players using the Elyrion tribe have the ability to enchant animals into Polytaurs and summon powerful Fire Dragons.
Christian Lövstedt, General Manager at Midjiwan, commented:
“This is a hugely exciting partnership, allowing players to support the planet and contribute to reforestation whilst also accessing brilliant new content to use in The Battle Of Polytopia.”
Alongside donating to The Canopy Project, The Battle Of Polytopia also boasts a brand-new skin for the Elyrion Tribe! The Midnight skin allows players to create graves, build crypts, and summon demons in dark forests, all in service of the mysterious Shard of D’Naeh.
The Midnight skin re-skins the entire Elyrion Tribe as the Midnight Cult. Everything the Elyrion Tribe is all about – nature, enchantment, and sanctuary – is turned on its head, corrupted into a dark, twisted dystopia of itself.
Midjiwan has already invested €250,000 in solar power projects in rural areas around Africa, and other charitable projects. The studio continues to seek opportunities to combine its in-game creativity with real-world benefits. The Battle of Polytopia is available on Nintendo Switch, the App Store, Google Play, PC, and Tesla cars.
The post Midjiwan Supports Reforestation Efforts With New Elyrion Tribe Skin In The Battle Of Polytopia appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Gaming
Digital Asset Horse Racing Game Stables Appoints Lebnan Nader CEO And Unveils International Expansion Plan
Stables, the Paris-based Web3 Equestrian Fantasy Game, has appointed venture capital veteran Lebnan Nader as Chief Executive Officer.
Lebnan Nader, who had founded and run several gaming and technology businesses, will oversee an international expansion as Stables seeks to add horses and attract owners from outside its French home market.
Launched in January 2023, Stables was born from an ambitious project funded by PMU, the European leader and number 3 worldwide in horse betting, alongside the startup studio 321. The game is designed to bring the excitement of horse racing into the digital realm by combining real data from actual racehorses with an online Web3 gaming experience where horses are represented as tradable non-fungible tokens.
“Stables brings together two of my favorite domains, video gaming and horse racing. Two sectors I’ve been involved in for the past 12 years. The game’s ambitions are high, and that’s what convinced me,” said Lebnan Nader, CEO of Stables. “The teams have done a tremendous job, and we will continue to develop the game, but my priority will be our community, as they are our greatest strength.”
A graduate of HEC Paris with nearly 20 years experience in strategy, product development, and market positioning in the digital sector, Lebnan co-founded an internationally acclaimed video and VR gaming studio, and also co-founded a software company for lottery and betting operators.
PMU’s initial gamble to reach a new audience has paid off as Stables now boasts a community of several thousand engaged players, aged 25 to 40 on average. The community is currently composed of 70% French players and 30% from the rest of the world.
The Stables teams are now expanding the gaming experience by adding new features that will allow any player, even without owning NFTs, to be able to explore Stables for free. A seasonal horse racing system with an in-game leaderboard will be introduced, as well as “The Paddock Gazette,” a feature allowing the analysis of all NFT data and comparing their performances.
The ability to interact with other players and access numerous new horses are among the features currently in development.
“In 2023, Stables succeeded in realizing PMU’s bold vision of diversifying the world of horse racing into Web3 and becoming today’s reference in equestrian fantasy gaming. Contributing alongside its historic partners to the financial support for an accelerated development of Stables represents for the Tezos Foundation a natural progression to the adoption of Tezos. Among other things, the Tezos Foundation always listens to the needs of management teams and economically engages in projects that have adopted its blockchain to be an active participant in their growth stages,” says Jean-Frédéric Mognetti, Executive Director of the Tezos Foundation.
“Convinced of the relevance of the project, it seemed important to involve new investors. We enthusiastically welcome the financial support of the Tezos Foundation, which strengthens a proven technical collaboration that the project has benefited from since its inception,” comments Emmanuelle Malecaze-Doublet, CEO of PMU.
The post Digital Asset Horse Racing Game Stables Appoints Lebnan Nader CEO And Unveils International Expansion Plan appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Gaming
Speechless Announces Hybrid License, Giving Actors Greater Control Over Their AI-Generated Voices
New platform will enable voice actors to gain commission on their AI-generated counterparts while also streamlining the development process for studios
Today, Speechless, the voice actor database and asset tool for the games industry, has announced its new Hybrid AI License, combining real voice talent and generative artificial intelligence (AI). This new license will enable game developers to utilize all aspects of modern voice-over production while providing more equitable opportunities for the actors themselves. With the current games landscape increasingly experimenting with the potential of AI, Speechless is offering a solution that takes a greater ethical approach to this technology.
The first complete management system for the games industry, Speechless’ Hybrid AI License easily allows developers to use the full range of voice-over options in one place; from text-to-speech, speech-to-speech and conventional voice recording. Unlike other text-to-speech providers, Speechless’ integrated approach allows developers to access the voice actors behind the AI-generated, text-to-speech options. This license not only enables developers to gain greater creative control over voice production but also gives actors control over their AI-generated voice.
Voice actors will benefit from this license by having their AI-generated voice earn a commission when it is licensed by developers. In addition, developers can utilize text-to-speech options to refine their scripts before bringing on the voice actor for the full recording. Developers can then adjust the voice actor’s recording with its AI counterpart at the later stages of development, removing the need for reshoots and allowing voice actors to move on to new projects.
The potential of Speechless’ License also enables a greater depth of content for side characters and NPCs and streamlines localization in new markets while keeping voice talent involved. With the rise of generative AI in game development, Speechless is establishing the best practice for utilizing the advantages of this technology without excluding the creative talent of voice actors.
This new license is available immediately and follows Speechless’ recent collaboration with audio middleware leader Audiokinetic Wwise.
“We can’t ignore the potential AI has for the games industry but we need to approach this technology ethically; that’s what we aim to achieve when it comes to voice-acting,” the Chief Executive Officer for Speechless, Peo Drangert (pictured), said. “By offering a hybrid license, developers can streamline their processes and experiment with different voice actors at a lower cost. At the same time, voice actors are compensated for their work and the work of their AI-generated voice, have greater opportunities to collaborate with studios and can work more flexibly. AI will continue to grow in the games sector, so we must use it responsibly to ensure a fairer industry.”
The post Speechless Announces Hybrid License, Giving Actors Greater Control Over Their AI-Generated Voices appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
-
Australia4 weeks ago
Crown Approved to Retain its Melbourne Licence
-
Africa2 weeks ago
BMM Testlabs Continues Its Expansion in Africa with New Licenses in Botswana and Nigeria to Test Land-Based and Digital Products
-
Australia3 weeks ago
VGCCC Fines Bookmaker MintBet $100,000 for Repeat Breaches of its Responsible Gambling Code of Conduct
-
GAT Expo4 weeks ago
Pragmatic Play Prepares for GAT Cartagena Gaming Week 2024
-
Compliance Updates3 weeks ago
3 Oaks Gaming extends European reach with Romania licence
-
Central Europe3 weeks ago
Gaming Corps makes key European addition with Fortuna Entertainment Group partnership
-
Press Releases1 week ago
OpenBet Powers Record-Breaking 100,000+ Peak Bets per Minute at Grand National 2024
-
Africa3 weeks ago
IESF African Regional Qualifiers Host Announced