The rapid development of e-sports business has instigated a significant increase in the number and frequency of cheating attempts. Just as athletes who inject steroids, some players modify game applications by “injecting” forbidden pieces of code in software. Those make them move faster, see more of the map, have an increased field of view, aim more accurately, and so on – depending on the game. Unfortunately, it is not easy to catch them red-handed if they know how to use this digital doping (or e-doping) effectively. Elympics is meant to change that. The very first truly smart matchmaking and anti-doping platform for mobile games will employ Artificial Intelligence to thoroughly analyse behaviour, skills and history of every single player joining the game to match them with opponents of comparable parameters and to accurately detect forbidden practices. Elympics will be distributed as a universal Software Development Kit (SDK), making it easy for any GameDev to integrate their products with the platform, or create their game from scratch. The solution is intended not only to make e-sports fair and more entertaining, but also to noticeably reduce the cost of game development, which is crucial from the business perspective. The project is run by a consortium formed by Nethone and DaftMobile – a Warsaw-based company specialized in developing mobile games and utility applications.
"According to some forecasts, in 2020 mobile gaming will represent more than half of the total games market, generating nearly $65 billion in revenues. With ever more developers striving to create their “next big thing, it becomes crucial to reduce development costs while maintaining high quality of products. Our smart matchmaking and anti-cheat solution will allow developers to fully focus on their passion – engaging gameplay. Thanks to our cooperation with Nethone and the generous NCRD subsidy we will be able to deliver Elympics for both indie and AAA mobile developers" said Kajetan Michał Dąbrowski, CEO, DaftMobile.
"E-sport is becoming more and more popular, not only among players but also among viewers and, in consequence, investors who want to get a piece of this profitable pie too. Big money always attracts fraudsters and cheaters. Even if the scale of the problem in the case of mobile e-sports is not large yet, we aim to nip it in the bud" said Hubert Rachwalski, CEO, Nethone. "We have decided to join forces with our partners from DaftMobile to combine their rich experience in the field of mobile games development with our expertise in data science and cybersecurity."