Skip to main content

‘Battlefield V’ designer gets banned from ‘Black Ops 4’ for being too damn good

TreyarchPLS

Battlefield V core gameplay designer Florian Le Bihan just wanted to check out Treyarch’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 before his own first-person shooter released next month, but his skills were so good they apparently banned him from the game completely.

Recommended Videos

Writing on Twitter, Le Bihan shared that he had been banned from the PC version of Black Ops 4, despite not having done anything that should have resulted in such a ban.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

So i got banned from #BlackOps4 LOL. Could you please not @Treyarch ??? @TreyarchPC pic.twitter.com/EaZ4NvJeG1

— Florian – DRUNKKZ3 (@DRUNKKZ3) October 23, 2018

He speculated that his ban could have come as a result of player reports about his high performance in the multiplayer mode. A YouTube video he shared of his skills is very impressive, showing an ability to kill targets with a single shot from a far distance with seemingly little effort.

The kills include numerous quick headshots, which likely means other players assumed that Le Bihan was using an “aimbot” cheating tool. Le Bihan speculated that it could have been an automatic ban based on his playing patterns, as well.

Our guess? Treyarch has a few employees who are fans of the Battlefield series, and they want Le Bihan to stay focused until Battlefield V is out in the wild. The game’s multiplayer beta was intense and engaging, with plenty of environmental destruction and several great World War II-era weapons.

Cheating isn’t uncommon in PC games, but very few players have the guts to do it during a live esports event. One who did is former Optic India player Nihil Kumawat, who was running an aimbot program on his computer during competitive play at the Extremesland Zowie Asia Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament. The software allowed him to instantly score headshots on players after encountering them in the game, and he was disqualified from the event and kicked off his team as a result. The team was later dissolved.

For every one person who cheats, however, there are several who are just actually better than you at the game. Le Fihan seems to be one of those players, and if he’s this good at his competitor’s game, we don’t want to meet him in combat when he’s playing Battlefield V.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is out now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. Battlefield V comes to the same platforms on November 20.

Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
3 new PS Plus games that you should play this weekend (December 20-22)
Frey in Square Enix's Forspoken.

The latest batch of new PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium game catalog additions was released this week. As a result, PS Plus subscribers have a ton of new options when it comes to what to play as we approach what is many people's holiday break. Games from this most recent batch are what I'm recommending people check out this weekend. One of the titles is technically a Christmas game, so it's fitting to play this time of year, while my other recommendations are good options if you're looking for something to play with others.
Forspoken
Forspoken - Official Launch Trailer

Square Enix's Forspoken is a high-profile action RPG console exclusive that was released on PlayStation 5 in 2023. While its quip-heavy dialogue definitely isn't for everyone, the way it incorporates the player's magical abilities into combat and traversal is truly exhilarating. Dashing through large fields, surfing on top of water, and launching bullet-like streams of rocks at enemies is immensely satisfying. Forspoken's Isekai adventure technically begins with the main character, Frey, being whisked away from New York City around Christmas. That technically makes this a Christmas game, giving you all the more reason to check it out this weekend.

Read more
We might get a new Steam Deck next month — and Valve isn’t making it
The Steam Deck OLED on a pink background.

I expected to see some new handheld gaming PCs this year at CES, but it looks like something even more exciting is in store. AMD and Lenovo are hosting an event during the week of the show, and it'll have two special guests in attendance: Valve's Pierre-Loup Griffais and Microsoft's Jason Ronald.

I'll be attending the event on January 7, about which Sean Hollister over at The Verge initially shared out the details. There are a couple of reasons why this event could be significant. First, Valve. Since the launch of the Asus ROG Ally, there have been a handful of these types of events featuring spokespeople from AMD, Microsoft, and the company making a handheld -- Lenovo or Asus. Valve hasn't ever been in attendance, and considering Valve makes the Linux-based Steam Deck, it would be odd for the company to have a presence.

Read more
Star Citizen’s 4.0 update supports 500 players per server
star citizen hits one million backers fighter

Star Citizen is the stuff dreams of made of, even if the long development time may feel more like a never-ending fever dream. Cloud Imperium Games has raised more than $750 million in funding and spent over 12 years building up Star Citizen's world piece by piece, and now up to 500 players can wander across the same galactic server in the new Pyro system.

One thing to note: this isn't the full release of the game. Cloud Imperium says it still has improvements it wants to make before releasing a stable version, so consider Star Citizen 4.0 something like an alpha. Even if it isn't all the way finished, this latest update gives more of a glimpse into the final vision that Cloud Imperium has for the title.

Read more