Activision Tackles Call of Duty Cheating with New Anti-Cheat Measures and Crossplay Options
Activision has responded to widespread player concerns regarding cheating in Call of Duty's Black Ops 6 and Warzone, announcing significant updates to its anti-cheat strategy and offering console players in Ranked Play the option to disable crossplay with PC players.
The prevalence of cheaters in Ranked Play, introduced last year with Season 1, has sparked considerable outrage within the Call of Duty community. Activision's Team Ricochet, responsible for the Ricochet Anti-Cheat system, previously acknowledged shortcomings in its initial Season 1 implementation, admitting they fell short of expectations, especially within Ranked Play.
A recent blog post details Activision's 2025 anti-cheat roadmap, revealing over 136,000 Ranked Play account bans since the mode's launch. Season 2 will introduce enhanced client-side and server-side detection systems, along with a major kernel-level driver update. Further advancements, including a novel player authentication system designed to identify and target cheaters, are promised for Season 3 and beyond. Details on this new system are being withheld to prevent cheat developers from exploiting it.
A key immediate change for Season 2 is the introduction of console crossplay disabling in Ranked Play for Black Ops 6 and Warzone. This addresses concerns that a significant portion of cheating originates on PC, a practice already widely adopted by console players in standard Multiplayer modes.
Activision emphasizes ongoing monitoring and potential future adjustments to maintain game integrity, promising further updates as the crossplay disabling feature nears launch.
While Activision's anti-cheat efforts are often met with skepticism, the issue of cheating remains a significant challenge for the publisher, particularly since the surge in Warzone's popularity in 2020. Activision has invested heavily in anti-cheat technology and legal action against cheat developers, achieving notable successes recently.
Prior to Black Ops 6's launch, Activision aimed for sub-one-hour detection and removal of cheaters. The game launched with an updated Ricochet kernel-level driver (also applied to Warzone), incorporating machine-learning behavioral analysis to swiftly identify and ban aimbot users. Activision highlights the sophisticated and organized nature of cheat developers, emphasizing their ongoing efforts to detect and eliminate cheaters through meticulous data analysis.
