Permanent ban for The Division game cheats

Ubisoft added that it was scrapping initial two-week bans as this had not helped to stamp out a rash of cheating.

The company had been criticised on social media for this short-term ban policy because many said it did little to properly penalise those who cheated. Few were stripped of the loot they amassed while cheating so could use it to help them in the game when the ban was lifted, said commenters on Reddit.

In its blogpost, Ubisoft said it realised the short-term bans were not "dissuasive enough" so had decided to escalate its action to permanent bans the first time it catches "noxious players willingly violating the rules".

Shorter bans and account suspensions would be imposed on players who exploited bugs in the game for advantage, it said.

By imposing the severe penalty, Ubisoft has joined the growing number of game firms that are taking a hard line with cheats.

Last month Blizzard adopted a similar policy with its Overwatch game and said it had "zero tolerance" for users of "hacks, bots, or third-party software". Thousands of people have been banned from the game as a result of this policy.