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 plans to allow console players in Ranked mode to disable crossplay with PC players.
The issue of cheating has become a major point of contention among the Call of Duty community 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, responsible for anti-cheat technology, acknowledged shortcomings in the Season 1 launch. They stated that while subsequent updates have improved the situation, the initial Ricochet Anti-Cheat integration fell short, especially in Ranked Play.
A recent blog post details Activision's 2025 anti-cheat strategy, revealing over 136,000 Ranked Play account bans since the mode's launch. Season 2 will introduce enhanced client-side and server-side detection, along with a significant 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 it.
A key immediate change for Season 2 is the introduction of console crossplay disabling in Ranked Play for Black Ops 6 and Warzone. Given the widely held belief that PC gaming is a primary source of cheating in online games, this option addresses a long-standing request from console players who have routinely disabled crossplay in standard Multiplayer modes.
Activision 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, the company has invested heavily in its 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 applied to Warzone) featuring machine learning systems designed for rapid detection and gameplay analysis to counter aimbots.
Activision acknowledges the sophisticated nature of cheat developers, describing them as organized, illegal groups actively seeking vulnerabilities in the game. However, they emphasize that cheat developers inevitably leave traces, providing opportunities for detection and removal.
