Activision has taken significant steps to address the ongoing concerns about cheating within the *Call of Duty* community, particularly in *Black Ops 6* and *Warzone*. In response to player feedback, the company has announced plans to allow console players in Ranked Play to disable crossplay with PC users, aiming to enhance the competitive integrity of the game.
Since the introduction of Ranked Play in *Black Ops 6* and *Warzone* with the launch of Season 1 last year, cheating has been a major issue, with many players feeling that it undermines the competitive multiplayer experience. Activision's anti-cheat division, Team Ricochet, acknowledged that their initial efforts were insufficient. "After a series of updates our systems are in a better place today across all modes; however, we did not hit the mark for the integration of Ricochet Anti-Cheat at the launch of Season 01 — particularly for Ranked Play," they admitted last month.
In a recent blog post, Activision detailed its strategy to combat cheating in *Call of Duty* throughout 2025. They reported issuing over 136,000 account bans in Ranked Play since its inception. With the upcoming Season 2, the company is rolling out enhanced client and server-side detection systems, along with a significant kernel-level driver update. Looking ahead to Season 3 and beyond, Activision teased "a multitude of new tech," including a novel system designed to authenticate legitimate players and target cheaters more effectively. However, they refrained from providing specifics to avoid tipping off cheat developers.
Starting with Season 2, console players will have the option to disable crossplay in *Black Ops 6* and *Warzone* Ranked Play, allowing them to compete solely against other console users. This move is in response to the belief that cheating is more prevalent on PC, and many console players have already been disabling crossplay in standard Multiplayer modes. "We'll be monitoring closely and will consider further changes to prioritize the integrity of the ecosystem, and we’ll have more details to share as we get closer to the launch of this feature," Activision stated.
Despite these efforts, skepticism remains among the *Call of Duty* community, a sentiment that has persisted since the rise of *Warzone* in 2020. Activision has invested heavily in anti-cheat technology and legal actions against cheat developers, achieving several notable victories. In October, ahead of *Black Ops 6*'s launch, the company set a goal to remove cheaters from the game within an hour of their first match. The launch of *Black Ops 6* included an updated kernel-level driver for Ricochet, along with new machine-learning systems designed to quickly detect and analyze gameplay to combat aim bots.
Activision described cheat developers as organized, illegal groups that meticulously analyze game data to exploit vulnerabilities. "These bad guys are not just some script kiddies poking around with code they found online. They are a collective who profit from exploiting the hard work of game developers across the industry," they stated. However, they emphasized that cheat developers leave traces, which Activision continuously seeks to identify and use to remove cheaters from the game.
