Pokémon GO has been hacked time and again by players to gain an unfair advantage. This includes hacks like Pokémon Go Joystick Xposed module that lets you move around in Pokémon Go without having to move around in real life.

Such cheats, hacks, and tricks are used by players around the world to gain advantages that they can then use to defeat other players dreams of being Pokémon Masters.

The situation was made worse as even casual gamers turned to side loading the game while Niantic was frantically putting out fires and increasing their server capacity. All this led to a large number of players spoofing and gaining an unfair advantage over their counterparts before Pokémon GO was officially announced for their country.

Initially, Niantic responded by soft-banning users (prevent them from being able to play the game properly for a few hours), but the issue still persisted. Now, Niantic has officially come forth and said it would be issuing permanent bans for users who try and cheat the system. Banning can be a result of “Users [sic] falsifying their location, using emulators, modified or unofficial software and/or accessing Pokémon GO clients or backends in an unauthorised manner, including through the use of third party software.” according to Niantic.

Niantic’s explanations is that “Pokémon GO should [sic] provide a fair, fun, and legitimate game experience for everyone.” Spoofing and using other cheats in the game are reducing the fun factor for other users who have to battle a 2000CP Dragonite at a Poké Gym near their place within hours of launch. If you have been wrongly banned, you can request the ban to be overturned by contacting Niantic through the game’s support page.

How has your experience with Pokémon GO been so far? Have cheaters / hackers reduced your enjoyment of the game? Let us know in the comments below.