Activision has responded to player concerns regarding cheating in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone, announcing plans to allow console players in Ranked Play to disable crossplay with PC players. The prevalence of cheaters in Ranked Play, introduced with Season 1 last year, has sparked significant backlash from the community.
Activision's Team Ricochet, responsible for anti-cheat technology, acknowledged shortcomings in the initial Season 1 rollout. They stated that while subsequent updates have improved the situation, the launch did not meet their expectations, particularly for 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 systems, along with a major kernel-level driver update. Further advancements, including a new player authentication system designed to identify and target cheaters, are planned for Season 3 and beyond. Specific details on this new system are being withheld to prevent cheat developers from exploiting it.
Season 2 will also introduce a crucial feature: the ability for console players in Black Ops 6 and Warzone Ranked Play to disable crossplay. This addresses the widely held belief that a significant portion of cheating originates from PC players, a practice already employed by many console players in standard Multiplayer. 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 Ricochet technology and legal action against cheat developers, achieving several high-profile victories. Prior to Black Ops 6's launch, Activision aimed for one-hour detection and removal of cheaters from their first match, utilizing an updated kernel-level driver and machine learning systems to identify and counter aimbots. Activision acknowledges the sophisticated and organized nature of cheat developers, emphasizing their ongoing efforts to detect and remove cheaters through the analysis of in-game data.
