Square Enix has confirmed the use of plugins in the world's first raid win by UNNAMED_ in the latest and greatest Final Fantasy 14 raid, The Omega Protocol. As such, UNNAMED_ has been stripped of its world's first win and also stripped of its in-game achievements and titles, too.
The news comes courtesy of Twitter user @Haruka_Setsuna_, who apologized to the Final Fantasy 14 community while also posting a screencap of messages from Game Master G.X. Hades (translation provided by Twitter user @KANZAKIS). The messages state that Hades has confirmed the use of plugins in UNNAMED_'s world first clear of The Omega Protocol, and although the rest of the team "did not cheat directly," they still "received the benefit" of those that cheated. As such, the rest of UNNAMED_ will have their achievements and titles stripped from their accounts at a later date, and they're also being asked to dispose of the raid reward weapon.
Presumably, those players that used plugins have received account suspensions, although game director Naoki "Yoshi-P" Yoshida stated earlier today that such punishments will not be publicized. It's believed this may be the first time in Final Fantasy 14 history that an entire team has been punished for one of its members using a banned plugin.
Fans have long called for Square Enix to actually enforce its policies banning plugins and mods from Final Fantasy 14, a policy that has sometimes been ignored by the game's top players. Back in May, team Neverland sparked controversy after allegations of cheating arose from their world's first clear of Dragonsong’s Reprise. At the time, no corrective action was taken, but Yoshida warned players that using plugins was against FF14's terms of service and could get players' accounts banned.
Today's action means that the world's first clear of Omega Protocol is still up for grabs more than a week after the raid first dropped--a testament to the raid's difficulty and why some would resort to cheating.