It's also unfortunately impossible to have a good competitive multi-player online experience without kernel-level anti-cheat. It's simply too easy to cheat at many of these games in the absence of strict control measures, and even a single cheater can ruin a game session for every other gamer.

No one reached directly for kernel-level anti-cheat. It was the result of an escalation of the sophistication of cheating solutions.

That is completely irrelevant. Users want the game.