The Battlefield 6 open beta held last weekend saw high participation, with over 500,000 concurrent players on Steam alone. However, a peculiar issue was reported: users encountered error messages when trying to launch Battlefield 6 while Valorant was running. Riot Games has provided an explanation for this situation.

Phillip Koskinas, Anti-Cheat Team Lead at Riot Games, addressed the reason why the two games cannot be run simultaneously via X (formerly Twitter) on the 12th. In conclusion, the anti-cheat programs running in both games are conflicting with each other.

Koskinas stated, "Vanguard and Javelin (Battlefield 6's anti-cheat program) are compatible, and you do not need to delete one to use the other." He added, "However, running the clients for both Battlefield 6 and Valorant simultaneously is not permitted. This is because both drivers use the same technology to protect game memory areas and end up competing with each other."

Both Valorant's Vanguard and Battlefield 6's Javelin are kernel-level anti-cheat programs. When both are executed simultaneously, they detect each other's activities in the kernel area, perceive the other as a potential threat, and cause a conflict.

Major game companies are increasingly adopting kernel-level anti-cheat drivers to combat more sophisticated hacks. On the 11th, Krafton also announced that it would introduce a new kernel-level anti-cheat feature to PUBG.

The development team explained, "Because each security program scans the system and memory in its own unique way, running two or more games simultaneously can cause the anti-cheat systems to clash or interfere with each other, which may lead to unexpected effects during game execution or gameplay. We recommend closing any other running game clients and running only one at a time."

During the four-day Battlefield 6 open beta, the Javelin anti-cheat program detected 330,000 cheating attempts. Recently, cheating methods have evolved beyond kernel-level hacks to include Direct Memory Access (DMA), which uses external hardware connected directly to the motherboard to access program memory without going through the CPU. Since these methods involve external devices, it becomes difficult for Windows to detect the manipulation.

As hack programs evolve, anti-cheat programs are inevitably forced to adopt new technologies. However, in the process, more detailed and complex security methods are applied, which can lead to frequent conflicts with other games or security programs. This has created a new challenge for the development of anti-cheat programs.