What is BattlEye?

BattlEye is an anti-cheat that game publishers license and build into their games. It loads a kernel-level driver while you play a protected game, looks for known cheats and for programs tampering with the game, and reports to the game's servers. Escape from Tarkov, DayZ, PUBG, Rainbow Six Siege and Grand Theft Auto V are among the games that run it.

Published by GCS Cheats under our editorial policy. Last updated: 1 November 2026.

In plain EnglishThis page explains what "BattlEye" means when people talk about game cheats, in simple words, and where on this site to read more. No cheat is ever 100% safe, so always check a product's status before you buy.

How BattlEye works

BattlEye starts with the game and runs a kernel driver beside it. The driver watches what runs on the PC and what reaches into the game, while the client checks for known cheats and for changes to the game. BattlEye's own FAQ says it is only ever active while you are playing a BattlEye-protected game.

Each publisher decides how BattlEye is set up in its game and what a detection leads to. That is why the same anti-cheat ends in an account ban in one game and a hardware ban in another.

What a BattlEye ban means

BattlEye's FAQ says it only bans for the use of actual cheats, or parts of cheats built to get around its protection. What the ban covers is set per game: Battlestate bans Escape from Tarkov accounts and hardware, and a ban in Arena can lock you out of the main game too, while DayZ and Deadside issue game bans on the account.

Many BattlEye games ban in waves rather than the moment a cheat is found, so a build can look safe for weeks and then be caught along with everyone who used it.

Games that use BattlEye

BattlEye protects 14 of the 58 games we track, every one of them at kernel level. What a ban covers is set by each game, so it is listed per game. Where we sell builds for a game, its name links to our guide or shop page.

Fortnite - kernel-level, hardware and account bans (runs Easy Anti-Cheat + BattlEye)
Escape from Tarkov - kernel-level, hardware and account bans
Escape from Tarkov: Arena - kernel-level, account bans
Rainbow Six Siege - kernel-level, hardware and account bans
PUBG: Battlegrounds - kernel-level, hardware and account bans
DayZ - kernel-level, game bans on the account
Destiny 2 - kernel-level, hardware and account bans
Grand Theft Auto V - kernel-level, account bans
ARK: Survival Ascended - kernel-level, hardware and account bans
ARK: Survival Evolved - kernel-level, game bans on the account
War Thunder - kernel-level, account bans
SCUM - kernel-level, account bans
Unturned - kernel-level, account bans, and hardware bans on community servers (runs BattlEye + VAC)
Deadside - kernel-level, game bans on the account

BattlEye vs Easy Anti-Cheat

They are the two most common licensed anti-cheats and work in a similar way: both run a kernel-level driver, both are built into the game by its developer, and both leave the ban to the game's publisher. Easy Anti-Cheat is part of Epic Online Services and free for developers at its basic level; BattlEye is licensed on its own. Fortnite runs both.

BattlEye FAQ

Is BattlEye kernel-level?

Yes. It runs a kernel driver while a protected game is open. Its FAQ says it is only ever active while you are playing a BattlEye-protected game, so it is not running when you are not.

How do I know if I am BattlEye banned?

The game tells you when you try to connect, usually with a message that you were kicked or banned by BattlEye. What the ban covers, and whether it can be appealed, is up to the game's publisher.

Does BattlEye ban hardware?

That is the publisher's choice, not BattlEye's. Some BattlEye games ban hardware as well as the account and others ban only the account; the list on this page shows which is which for every BattlEye game we track.

Sources

Official pages behind the facts on this page. How cheats are built and used is our own explanation, written under our editorial policy.

Keep reading

The full glossaryEvery cheat and anti-cheat term, each defined in one line.Anti-cheat guidesHow each game's anti-cheat works and what its bans cover.Anti-cheat databaseAll 58 games we track: system, driver, ban type.Compare cheatsBuilds for one game side by side, feature by feature.