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 surge in cheating reports, particularly since the introduction of Ranked Play in Season 1 of Black Ops 6 and Warzone, has fueled intense debate within the Call of Duty community. Many players believe rampant cheating is undermining the competitive experience, leading to criticism of Activision's initial response.

Activision's Team Ricochet, responsible for anti-cheat technology, acknowledged shortcomings in its Season 1 launch. While acknowledging improvements since then, they admitted to falling 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 inception. Season 2 will introduce enhanced client-side and server-side detection systems, along with a crucial 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 avoid providing cheat developers with exploitable information.

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 harbors a higher concentration of cheaters, this option mirrors the existing crossplay disabling feature already available in standard Multiplayer modes for console players.

Activision emphasized ongoing monitoring and potential further adjustments to maintain game integrity, promising additional details closer to the feature's launch.

Despite these announcements, skepticism remains among the player base, a common reaction to Activision's anti-cheat updates. While cheating is a prevalent issue across many games, it has become a significant reputational challenge for Activision since the explosive popularity of the free-to-play Warzone in 2020. The publisher has invested heavily in anti-cheat development and legal action against cheat developers, achieving notable successes recently.

Prior to Black Ops 6's release, Activision aimed for sub-one-hour detection and banning of cheaters after their first match. The game launched with an updated Ricochet kernel-level driver (also implemented in Warzone), incorporating new machine learning behavioral analysis to swiftly detect and counter aimbots.

Activision highlights the organized, profit-driven nature of cheat developers, emphasizing their sophisticated methods and the ongoing arms race to stay ahead of their tactics. The company maintains its commitment to identifying and removing cheaters, using the cheaters' own actions to track and eliminate them.