Aimbots allow players to more accurately land shots on their opponents in first-person shooters by tracking opponents for them. This is a popular cheat to use in Fortnite, with many players streaming their use of the hack on YouTube. In a tearful apology video, Khattri claimed that it “didn’t cross [his] mind that he could be banned for life on Fortnite”.
“Just knowing that I can never play Fortnite again or create content for your guys... it’s obvious that I’ve made a massive mistake.”
The video has received over 11 million views on YouTube but, in a public statement, Epic Games, the developer behind the hit battle royale, said that they have a “zero tolerance” policy when it comes to cheating.
“It seems pretty heavy-handed to give him a lifetime ban. I feel like game developers have given smaller bans for more problematic violations"
Alex Darbyshire, Courier Gaming's resident Fornite fanboy
The ban has resulted in divided opinions among the gaming community. The gaming section’s resident Fortnite fanboy, Alex Darbyshire, describes the punishment as “a bit harsh”. He said, “It seems pretty heavy-handed to give him a lifetime ban. I feel like game developers have given smaller bans for more problematic violations, it’s not like he was playing for money.”
However, an anonymous source with a name not dissimilar to ‘Hatrick Parland’ disagrees. “He cheated, he deserves it. He knew it was wrong and still did it anyway – I don’t feel bad for him. I find it very funny but I don’t wanna look bad in the paper.”
On 5 November, fellow YouTuber FaZe Banks took to Twitter to call the ban “fucking ridiculous”, claiming that “XXiF actually cheated in a competitive environment, received just a 2 week ban [and] wound up taking a spot in the World Cup.” He ended the series of tweets with #FreeJarvis.