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 with Season 1 last year, has sparked significant outrage within the Call of Duty community. Activision's Team Ricochet, responsible for the Ricochet anti-cheat system, previously acknowledged shortcomings in its Season 1 launch, stating that the anti-cheat integration "did not hit the mark, particularly for Ranked Play."

A recent blog post details Activision's 2025 anti-cheat roadmap. The company revealed over 136,000 Ranked Play account bans since the mode's launch. Season 2 will introduce enhanced client and server-side detection systems, along with a major kernel-level driver update. Further updates promised for Season 3 and beyond include a novel player authentication system designed to identify and target cheaters more effectively. 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 crossplay disabling for console players in Black Ops 6 and Warzone Ranked Play. This addresses the widely held belief that a significant portion of cheating originates from PC players, a concern that has led console players to routinely disable crossplay in standard Multiplayer modes.

Activision stated that they will "monitor closely and consider further changes" based on the impact of these updates, promising more information as the feature launch approaches.

While Activision's anti-cheat efforts are often met with skepticism from the community, the company has invested heavily in developing its anti-cheat technology and pursuing legal action against cheat developers, achieving several high-profile victories. Prior to Black Ops 6's launch, Activision aimed to ban cheaters within an hour of their first match, implementing an updated kernel-level driver and advanced machine-learning systems to detect and address aimbots. The company acknowledges the sophisticated and organized nature of cheat developers, emphasizing their ongoing efforts to identify and remove cheaters from the game.