Animal Crossing Hackers

Animal Crossing: New Horizons isn't even properly out yet and hackers are already carving their way through the game like a hot knife through butter. It seems Nintendo was well prepared for such invasions, however, with today's Version 1.1.0 patch already working towards getting rid of the issue.

In just a handful of days, hackers and dataminers managed to crack their way into the game, discovering that save data is encrypted - no doubt in an effort to prevent cheating going forward. Amazingly, a tool to decrypt this data has already been produced and shared online, causing a potentially frustrating dilemma for Nintendo.

Today's patch has reportedly added some new protection measures to fight against such tools being used by players, though. A console hacker going by the name of SciresM says that "you should expect bans if you go online with cheats/mods active", noting that there is now code which verifies the authenticity of your save data.

We doubt many of you reading this will have had any intentions to manipulate the game in such a way anyway, but if you were planning on playing around with the game's data, you might want to steer clear. For players wanting to experience the game as intended by its developers, anti-cheating measures such as this one could go a long way towards creating a safer environment.

If you missed the news earlier today, today's patch also confirms that you can't access seasonal events in the game by time travelling.

These people work mighty fast, huh?

[source nintendosoup.com, via gonintendo.com]