The Daybreak Game Company has swung the banhammer at over 30,000 cheaters in H1Z1, but they'll let you come back, if you ask apologize... in a YouTube video.

VG247 reports that Daybreak Game Company President John Smedley has announced his studio has blacklisted over 30,000 people who were caught cheating in H1Z1. H1Z1 is a multiplayer sandbox zombie title where you must gather supplies and survive in a zombie apocalypse scenario, this includes fending off other players who might be out for your stuff. You must survive against the elements, the undead and potentially hostile survivors who want your stuff. Meanwhile, you must score resources, craft items needed for survival, make a shelter and fortify it. Some of these cheats include a mod that would show you other players' locations in unfair ways (like through walls). Smedley said he'd let some of these players back in, but only if they apologized to the H1Z1 community on YouTube.

Here's what Smedley said about the ordeal through a series of tweets:

Dear Cheaters who got banned. Many of you are emailing me, apologizing and admitting it. Thank you.

However.. You’re doing it wrong. If you want us to even consider your apology, a public YouTube apology is necessary. No personal information please. Email me the link and I will tweet it.

I want to make sure it’s clear there are consequences for cheating. You don’t just get to make a video and get unbanned. This is a very limited time thing to try and raise awareness of what’s actually going on. You may say ‘hey there clearly aren’t consequences if you are unbanning people’.

Let’s get back to the part where I said we’ve unbanned three people. If these videos go far and wide and it elevates the importance of getting rid of the cheaters in PC gaming, I feel it’s an excellent trade. These guys could easily go right back in, make a new Steam account; use an HWID hack and play anyways. Yes, that’s the reality. It’s ugly, but there it is. And it’s true for every single PC game out there. Even the ones that say it isn’t.

So is this the right move? I don’t know. But doing the same thing we have been doing is a tough fight and I’d like to at least try something different.

Smedley said that out of the 30,000 users banned, only three have been reinstated to the game via this method so far, but he mentioned that one of these users will probably be banned again for making his apology video private. You might disagree with his methods, but we certainly agree with this. Cheating in an online multiplayer setting throws off the entire balance of how that game is meant to function. It might help a few selfish baddies get ahead, but it ruins the experiences of so many others.

More From Arcade Sushi