Ever since SpaceUK was exposed in April 2023, I haven't stopped thinking about it, which is unlike any other hacking scandal in Geometry Dash history.

The main difference between SpaceUK and other hacking scandals is that SpaceUK genuinely robbed people. Not only of their accomplishments, but also of raw dollars.

SpaceUK robbed so many verifiers and first victors of deserved ad revenue. Instead of coming clean, he stole thousands of dollars for himself by lying and cheating.

And somehow, this never got to him. He never decided that stealing all this clout and money was enough. He never decided to come clean. In fact, even when he was first exposed, he continued to lie.

And even his second and final apology, which was originally seen as truthful, has been called into question.

When did SpaceUK start lying?

In SpaceUK's second apology, he claimed that the absurd difficulty jumps at the start of his career, such as The Golden being his fifth demon, are legitimate.

However, as Samifying noted, SpaceUK has been displayed on the in-game Cataclysm leaderboard since approximately June 2020, which would predate his attempts on The Golden.

This means that if SpaceUK didn't cheat prior to The Golden, he at the very least was lying. Which means his second apology also lied. So how can we know that everything else in there is truthful?

As of the publication of this article, Samifying has not updated the pinned comment or description of his video with a possible explanation for this, so it does appear that SpaceUK was lying about his absurd difficulty jumps, at least to an extent.

At the very least, this means SpaceUK has been lying since before The Golden, if not cheating. Maybe that is why he had no issue cheating and lying to the community and his closest friends for so long.

This could also explain his egotistical attitude towards the community, as throughout his entire career, he constantly downplayed his achievements and joked about being a hacker.

Paying people back

In his second apology, SpaceUK said he would pay back some of the players who he robbed of ad revenue. According to Samifying's video, SpaceUK has paid popular Geometry Dash player Trick. Also according to that video, Doggie denied being paid by SpaceUK.

So while we can confirm that Trick has received some money from SpaceUK, there is no evidence known to Dashword that SpaceUK has paid anyone else.

We also think it is unlikely that SpaceUK would ever pay back everything he made, especially since he already poured a lot of it into a new PC.

Some people want SpaceUK to return

According to Samifying's interviews, most top players and friends of SpaceUK admit that SpaceUK should not make a comeback, even if it was legit. Trick even went as far as to say that it would be disrespectful for SpaceUK to come back to the game.

But despite that, some people want SpaceUK to return, This is baffling to me, especially after all the damage he caused.

Regardless, I can see why. Many documentaries have romanticized
previous Geometry Dash hacking scandals, such as the Riot vs Cyclic rivalry and Andromeda's comeback from his hacking scandal.

This has made one thing sure: the community loves a good redemption story.

But what people need to recognize is that not only has the retelling of these past stories been romanticized, but also that SpaceUK caused so much more damage than previous hacking scandals.

Back in the days of Cyclic and Andromeda, making ad revenue off of Geometry Dash completions was a rare commodity. But now, most top Geometry Dash players are monetized on YouTube. Geometry Dash completions have become a valid way to make a ton of money. So to cheat would be to steal that money from people who do things legit.

To rank the damage of these hacking scandals, I would do so like this:

1. SpaceUK: stole lots of ad revenue and clout from people who deserved it
2. NoctaFly: led to the leaderboards getting frozen for years
3. Cyclic/Andromeda/Noobas/Neptune: were in an era where monetizing Geometry Dash content was rare (though they did definitely steal accomplishments from others, e.g. Cyclic hacking Cataclysm)
4. SaRy and all those other old players who lied about their achievements: were in an era where monetizing Geometry Dash content was even rarer (they also probably stole accomplishments from others, but less so given that the community was much smaller back then)

So, to put it simply: I don't think SpaceUK should be given a second chance anytime soon.

Especially since, as noted before, he might still not be giving the whole truth regarding his Cataclysm record.

So when I hear people say they want to see SpaceUK make a comeback, I can only hope they are mistaken and are unaware of the sheer damage he caused.

If I could ask SpaceUK one thing, I would ask him why he continued lying and cheating for so long. Why he lied and kept lying even when he was called out. How he slept at night knowing he was stealing so much ad revenue and clout from others.

I make my living through Geometry Dash content, so after hearing about someone else making lots of money from cheating in the game I love, I find it very hard to forget that.