In a developer update on the evening of Monday, February 3, Phil “mirageofpenguins” Koskinas announced that Riot Games new anti-cheating approach would be through the implementation of a kernel driver, which will protect players beyond the League of Legends client. While a kernel driver does serve objectively as the most optimal way to cover multiple titles, Riot Games’ potential access to players beyond their LoL client has stoked surveillance concerns within the community.

Teamfight Tactics is accessed within the League of Legends client, but Legends of Runeterra and upcoming titles like the highly anticipated shooter Project A  have their own respective IPs and with them, entirely separate clients.

Riot’s developer update mentions that several third party anti-cheat systems like EasyAntiCheat, Battleeye, and Xigncode are already being utilized by developers to protect numerous AAA titles, and that Riot is taking their anti-cheating measures into their own hands for an elevated level of trust and accountability.

Riot admitted that an abundance of chests currently run at a higher level of privilege than their own anti-cheat system, and that the utilization of a kernel driver would be effective in catching any and all potential tampering or cheating in any Riot Games title. In addition, Riot stated that it would be far more difficult to come up with innovative ways to cheat that wouldn’t be immediately detected.

The full developer update has not quelled the concerns of all League of Legends players, with many gamers taking to social media to either directly or indirectly express their discomfort in Riot Games having more access to their computer than ever before.

While mirageofpenguins stated that the surveillance capability of Riot Games remains virtually unchanged, the potential implications and the subsequent concern for personal privacy is an obstacle that Riot will face more than once again as it continues to expand its IP in the gaming world.