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 issue of cheating has escalated since the introduction of Ranked Play in Black Ops 6 and Warzone last year. Many players believe the prevalence of cheaters is severely impacting competitive gameplay, leading to criticism of Activision's initial response.
Activision's Team Ricochet, the anti-cheat division, previously acknowledged shortcomings in its Season 1 launch, stating that their anti-cheat measures fell short of expectations, particularly in 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. Specific details on this new system are being withheld to prevent cheat developers from exploiting the technology.
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 the widely held belief that a significant portion of cheating originates on PC, mirroring the existing practice of many console players disabling crossplay in standard Multiplayer.
Activision stated they will closely monitor the impact of this change and consider further adjustments to maintain game integrity.
While Activision's anti-cheat efforts are often met with skepticism from the community, the company has invested heavily in its Ricochet anti-cheat technology and pursued legal action against cheat developers, achieving notable successes.
Prior to Black Ops 6's release, Activision aimed to ban cheaters within an hour of their first match. The game launched with an updated Ricochet kernel-level driver (also implemented in Warzone), incorporating new machine-learning systems designed for rapid detection and gameplay analysis to counter aimbots. Activision highlighted the organized and sophisticated nature of cheat developers, emphasizing their ongoing efforts to detect and remove cheaters.
