'Pokemon Sun And Moon' news: Close to 6,000 players banned for messing around with game's save data

Cheating is rampant in various "Pokémon" games, leading The Pokémon Company to take action and ban thousands of players from accessing "Pokémon Sun and Moon."

"Pokémon" news website Serebii first spotted the company's announcement, indicating that 5,954 players have been banned over issues with altered save data. As a result, these players are no longer allowed to use Game Sync or even take part in Global Missions, Battle Competitions, and "Pokémon Sun & Moon's" Rating Battles. Banned players who try to access the Pokémon Global Link will get an error code 090-0212.

The Pokémon Company also promised to go after more cheating players going forward, resorting to "similar measures on a regular basis" to resolve the problem. Additionally, the developers are considering "further restrictions" for individuals who continue to mess with the save data despite the ban.

As reports point out, there are two ways to get banned in "Pokémon Sun and Moon." The first is when a player has a "hacked" Pokémon in a save file. This means that even legit players who receive a "hacked" Pokémon from Wonder Trade or GTS can be banned without them knowing they are actually receiving a "hacked" character. Since the system being used to determine unhacked monsters has loopholes, the game can sometimes flag characters that are of in-game origin. The Pokémon company will also ban players who accessed the game's online functions before its release.

"We will continue to monitor and deal with unauthorized data modification as it comes to our attention in order to preserve a safe and fair gameplay environment for all users of the Pokémon Global Link," the company said in a press statement. "We encourage all players to follow the instructions in the manual that came with their game in order to protect their saved game data and the Pokémon that they have raised. Thank you for your support and understanding," they added.