Game developer Niantic is well aware that people cheat when playing Pokemon Go. Only last month, it shadowbanned the cheaters, which meant they could play the game but not catch rare Pokemon.

Niantic isn't stopping there, though. With the introduction of Raid Battles and new gym and battle features, Niantic is taking another step to thwart the cheats.

"Pokemon caught using third-party services that circumvent normal gameplay will appear marked with a slash in the inventory and may not behave as expected," the developer explains in a Reddit post.

There's no detail given as to what these behavior problems will be, but the Reddit comments give us a good idea. Limited available moves and the inability to be placed in or collect coins from a gym are just two examples. Then there's the slash mark, which will be a public sign that "this person cheats," which is sure to anger the cheaters.

Whatever the final behavior limits and slash visual representation end up being, the point Niantic wants to make here is: cheaters won't prosper.

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How successful these anti-cheat solutions are depends as much on the third-party services as it does the players. Those who cheat and catch Pokemon demonstrating weird behavior may stop cheating through frustration, but they could also stop playing altogether. Alternatively, third-party services may react by attempting to circumvent the checks Niantic must be doing to detect them. If that happens, expect Niantic to continue quietly tweaking behind the scenes.

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