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 cheating 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 game's anti-cheat technology, previously acknowledged shortcomings in its initial Season 1 implementation, 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. The company revealed over 136,000 Ranked Play accounts have been banned 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 are promised for Season 3 and beyond, including a novel player authentication system designed to identify and ban cheaters more effectively. 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. This addresses a long-standing concern, as PC players are widely considered to be the primary source of cheating in the game. Console players have routinely disabled crossplay in standard Multiplayer; this update extends that option to Ranked Play. Activision will closely monitor the impact of this change and consider further adjustments as needed.
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 actively pursues legal action against cheat developers, achieving several high-profile victories. 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 and enhanced machine learning systems to improve detection speed and analyze gameplay patterns to identify aimbots. Activision acknowledges the sophisticated and organized nature of cheat developers, emphasizing their ongoing efforts to identify and eliminate cheaters.
