EA Investigating Incorrect Battlefield 3 PunkBuster Bans

Electronic Arts is currently looking into the possibility that it incorrectly banned Battlefield 3 players for cheating when they didn't, the company has announced.

“We are investigating an issue of PunkBuster bans that were incorrectly applied to some of our players,” EA said. “Please understand that our game advisors are not able to access or overturn PunkBuster bans, but we're working with our partners at Even Balance to get this resolved as quickly as possible.”

PunkBuster is a popular anti-cheating software that works similarly to anti-virus software. It’s developed and managed by Even Balance, not EA. In recent years, games like Call of Duty have been switching from PunkBuster to Valve’s Anti-Cheat solution (VAC). Even EA’s Titanfall, for example, uses a different anti-cheat program, FairFight, but the Battlefield games including the upcoming Battlefield Hardline continue to use PunkBuster.

If you've been impacted by this issue, EA said you can appeal the ban directly by following the instructions found here. EA also apologized for the inconvenience this may have caused and said players should stay tuned for updates on the issue.