Valve has to remind players that Deadlock’s anti-cheat is coming, and it's a'very high priorit' since Valve relies mainly on player reports at the moment.

Deadlock will be getting anti-cheat technology. You might think this is news based on reactions from the Discord server of the game, where Valve developer Yoshi posted a message. Yoshi replies to an inquiring mind after discussing the ability of the game to bind multiple actions with a single key (which allows some very silly things).

Yoshi, Valve's spokesperson, wrote that the company plans to restrict keybindings in the near future once they have enough legitimate uses added to the settings menu. It's not surprising given the company's attitude toward programs like Snap Tap in CS2.

It's not surprising either that people ask about it, given that Deadlock already gets aimbotters, who for some reason want to get their power trip out of a MOBA test. Valve is no stranger to this kind of thing. Bots have plagued TF2 in varying degrees for years. Counter-Strike 2 also has VAC, but a quick visit to the CS2 Subreddit will show that there is still a problem.

Valve has been working on it for some time. Here's the power of Discord search bar:

• August 11, We are working on "Anti Cheat Questions, and we certainly consider it to be a high priority long-term".
• August 20, "We will be adding a process on Discord soon to report cheaters," Yoshi says, "While working on our anti-cheat."
• August 24, "We have a team working on anti-cheat." While the system is being developed, we will have a review group in Discord to help look into reported cheater game reports. This was also confirmed in the announcements channel.

It's unclear how long it will take to implement the system, and whether it will be effective. Valve has been hesitant to move towards kernel-level anti-cheat software in the past, which is software that has maximum authority over your computer. Kernel level anti-cheat software is controversial, invasive and a security risk. However, some developers claim it's necessary to keep up with hack creators.

Instead, the company has bolstered their own massive banwaves by community policing. This includes player reports, low-priority queuing, Counter-Strike, Dota 2’s Overwatch system and so on. VAC bans are also a way to add a carrot to the stick of'stopping cheating' by threatening players with closed games.

It's more of a "damned if I do, damned for not doing" situation. It's impossible to eliminate 100% of cheaters, but games still need to reduce the number to a manageable level when possible. Valve has not had the best track record in this area historically. I'm curious to see if the fabled anti cheat strikes a balance when it comes out. It feels good to be the "golden child".