The Pokémon Company has banned nearly 6,000 players of Pokémon Sun and Moon from using the Global Link, which is the main online feature of the latest installments of the long-running franchise.

The players were banned from the online feature because they were cheating, with altered save data that gave them an unfair advantage over other players.

Almost 6,000 Pokémon Sun And Moon Players Banned

The bans, which were announced through the Japanese Global Link website, were applied to 5,954 players who have been caught using illegal save data. This means that these players used some sort of hack or tool to modify their save's items and trainer information, or that they used illegal Pokémon when making trades or joining online competition.

Banned players are not able to go online at all for Pokémon Sun and Moon, which means that they will not be able to participate in ranked online battles, global missions, and anything else that requires Game Sync. Once they try to log in, they will see an error code that will block them from going online.

What Can Lead To A Pokémon Sun And Moon Ban?

It is unclear, however, what particular cheats have caused the players to receive bans, and whether players who simply received hacked Pokémon in trades are also being banned for owning them.

There is also the question on whether The Pokémon Company will be able to track hacked Pokémon if their stats are modified but still within what is possible in the game. Pokémon experts have also flagged instances wherein legitimate Pokémon and trades are being blocked, causing the hack check for Pokémon Sun and Moon to be described as "a mess" by Joe Merrick.

Merrick, the webmaster of Pokémon news website Serebii, said that there is a wide variety of legitimate Pokémon that are not being allowed online, including those acquired from the recent Meloetta event of Pokémon Sun and Moon, Pokémon transferred from the Virtual Console that evolved beyond the original 151 Pokémon, and Pokémon with moves that they could have only obtained in previous versions of the game.

More Pokémon Sun And Moon Bans Coming?

The Pokémon Company said that it will be keeping an eye out for more players who will try to cheat their way through Pokémon Sun and Moon.

While most ban reports surfacing online are coming from players who have admitted to modifying their save data, The Pokémon Company should still look into complaints of legitimate players also receiving undeserved bans.

However, even if The Pokémon Company remains vigilant with its anti-cheating measures, players who are dead-set on cheating will eventually find a workaround on what is being used as signals for altered save data. The cycle will continue with bans being stricter and cheaters finding ways to circumvent the anti-cheating systems.

The solution is to simply say no to using cheats, not just in Pokémon Sun and Moon but in any game. It is really not worth it, as it takes away from the playing experience for both the cheater and other players more than the satisfaction that it brings.