If there’s one franchise that’s known for cheating problems, it’s Call of Duty. Activision has been attempting to change this poor image over the past year with the introduction of Ricochet, a piece of anti-cheating technology. In November 2021, it was announced that over half a million cheaters had been banned from the 2020 free-to-play title Call of Duty: Warzone alone. Now, Call of Duty has swung the ban hammer again, with 90,000 more accounts being removed from Warzone and Vanguard over the last week alone.
The bans took place over a number of waves enacted over the last seven days. While Activision hasn’t come forward with more information about the offenses that led to these accounts being yeeted, it’s probably the same old cheating and hacking that players have come to expect.
Last month, a hilarious new anti-cheating measure was added to Call of Duty: Warzone, with all non-cheating players in a lobby receiving God Mode against cheating players. No matter what cheats are used, the law-breaker won’t be able to do damage in any way.
The implementation of Ricochet was not recieved well by the entire community. It immediately raised red flags among the community due to its privacy-compromising kernel-level drivers, but Activision has repeated time and time again that the controversial addition will only run when players are actively in-game. The driver is required to play.
Call of Duty: Vanguard is available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. With the implementation of Ricochet, players risk being banned from the entire series if they decide to cheat, so it’s worth thinking twice.
The free-to-play battle royale title Call of Duty: Warzone is available to play on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. A version for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S has been announced to be released in 2022 with a mobile version also in development. In April 2021, Activision revealed that the title had officially surpassed 100 million active players.