4‑Year Running: Anti-Cheat Expert (ACE) Appears at Gamescom, Partnering with European Game Studios

COLOGNE, Germany, Aug. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Anti-Cheat Expert (ACE) returned to Gamescom for the fourth consecutive year, presenting a full-lifecycle security framework for complex game operations. During the event, ACE and Tencent Cloud signed a partnership agreement with German game developer Sandbox Interactive GmbH. The Android client of Sandbox Interactive's sandbox MMORPG Albion Online will integrate ACE Anti-Cheat Standard, with the protected version scheduled to launch by the third quarter of 2026.

As games expand across platforms and regions, security risks increasingly extend beyond individual matches. Cheating can affect competitive fairness, player assets, virtual economies and the long-term health of live-service titles. Developers therefore need security systems that evolve alongside changing gameplay, operating environments and threat patterns.

Drawing on 21 years of experience, ACE connects anti-cheat protection, game and client hardening, in-game economic risk management and game threat intelligence. By combining technical defense with risk assessment and ongoing operational support, ACE helps mobile and PC developers move from responding to isolated incidents toward managing security throughout the game lifecycle.

ACE and Tencent Cloud formalized their cooperation with Sandbox Interactive during Gamescom, bringing ACE's mobile game security experience to Albion Online. The title combines cross-platform gameplay with a player-driven economy, where combat, resource production, trading and persistent player assets are closely connected. Following more than a year of evaluation, testing and technical consultation, Sandbox Interactive selected ACE Anti-Cheat Standard (for Android), supported by Tencent Cloud's technical and localized services.

Jon Davis, Technical Director at Sandbox Interactive, said ACE delivered the detection coverage required by the project, while the responsiveness of the ACE and Tencent Cloud teams helped advance the international integration efficiently. He added that stronger two-way validation between the client and server was an important extension of the game's existing anti-cheat efforts.

Over the past 21 years, ACE has served hundreds of games and hundreds of millions of players worldwide. Its fourth consecutive Gamescom appearance reflects its continued effort to turn security expertise validated at scale within Tencent Games into adaptable services for global developers, helping build fairer, healthier and more sustainable game environments.