Cheating Concerns Prompt Activision to Disable Crossplay for Ranked Players

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 significantly impacted the competitive experience since the introduction of Ranked Play last year.

Activision's Team Ricochet, responsible for anti-cheat technology, previously acknowledged shortcomings in their initial Season 1 implementation of Ricochet Anti-Cheat, particularly affecting Ranked Play. They've since issued over 136,000 bans for Ranked Play account violations.

A recent blog post details Activision's 2025 anti-cheat strategy. Season 2 will introduce enhanced client and server-side detection systems, along with a major 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 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 the prevalent belief that a majority of cheating originates on PC, a practice already common among console players 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 frequently met with skepticism, the company has invested heavily in developing its technology and pursuing legal action against cheat developers, achieving notable successes recently. Prior to Black Ops 6's launch, Activision aimed for sub-one-hour detection and removal of cheaters from their first match. The game launched with an updated Ricochet kernel-level driver and improved machine learning systems to detect aimbots more quickly.

Activision acknowledges the sophisticated and organized nature of cheat developers, emphasizing their ongoing efforts to identify and remove cheaters from the game.