Team Unnamed_ Under Investigation After Using “Zoom Hacks” In Omega Protocol World’s First Race

After Team Unnamed_ was announced to be the winner of The Omega Protocol world’s first race in FFXIV yesterday, a video showcasing the use of illegal third-party tools surfaced. This video clearly shows a member of Team Unnamed_ using what the community calls “Zoom Hacks,” which allows the player the manipulate the camera to zoom out much further than intended.

Team Unnamed_ Under Investigation After Using “Zoom Hacks” In Omega Protocol World’s First Race

After this video circulated and people started calling into question the validity of the team’s win, memes and jokes started flying around the subreddit and other social media.

This morning, Producer and Director of FFXIV Naoki Yoshida released a statement regarding third-party tools. This won’t be a shock if you’ve been around for a world’s first race before. After every race, there is some scandal involving teams using non-official tools to help gain information more clearly.

An excerpt of the official statement can be read below.

“We are aware of information that is being spread regarding the use of third-party tools within The Omega Protocol (Ultimate)—we are conducting an investigation on the matter, including reviewing of reports we have received, as well as self-confessions and other information.”

The investigation may result in a ban or suspension for the member involved but will not be publicized by Square Enix or the team. Yoshida says,

“This is not a result of any desire to hide punishments given, nor is it to make it seem as though punishments are not given; it is because of a firm belief that penalties such as this are enacted against an individual as part of our operations, and is therefore not information which should be publicized.”

The Final Fantasy XIV team has repeatedly stated that using third-party tools is strictly prohibited. While many players use some of the quality-of-life mods when moments like this happen, it can ruin it for everyone. We don’t know what the outcome of this investigation will be, but it’s clear that the team at Square Enix is taking this seriously.

The world’s first race is not officially endorsed by FFXIV or Square Enix but is a community event fans and players look forward to every patch cycle. Plenty of teams stream their attempts, and places like Mogtalk even raise money for charity. It’s a sour note to end on, considering how exciting The Omega Protocol race was.