Almost everyone who enjoys multiplayer first-person shooters can agree that cheating is a recurring issue that has harmed several games, if not killed them off totally in some instances. Call of Duty, with its large player population and a slew of concurrently playable games, is rife with cheats, making it a popular target for the unscrupulous among them.
While Activision has been actively combating cheaters in Call of Duty games for years, they have had limited success in doing so. In early December 2021, Ricochet Anti-Cheat was released for Call of Duty: Warzone and Vanguard, and the corporation has been providing regular updates on its efficacy. Following its installation, Activision reported the suspension of 50,000 Warzone players in one day, and more recently disclosed that 90,000 cheats had been removed.
Since more than 250 million players are expected to play a Call of Duty game in 2020 (according to Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick), there will be a corresponding increase of cheaters. Ricochet Anti-Cheat and the newly installed and soon-to-be-implemented enhancements aimed at discouraging cheaters in the games, Damage Shield, Cloaking, and Disarm, have been updated in a new report from Activision.
When a cheater inflicts critical damage, the Damage Shield, which was installed back in February, prevents them from doing so. During an April update, the game added Cloaking, a feature that hides Call of Duty players from cheats. Disarm, the newest mitigation system will punish cheating gamers. Ricochet Anti-Cheat will take away a player’s weaponry if it detects cheating in Call of Duty: Warzone or Vanguard. Cheaters cannot even use fists in melee combat, as a result.
It’s possible that some are wondering why the system doesn’t simply ban cheats from the games. It is stated in the progress report, as well as in other documents, that the system’s purpose is to keep cheats in the game so that their strategies can be studied and countermeasures developed. Anti-cheat software is more than just a toggle switch; it must take into consideration a variety of factors. A more accurate analogy is an anti-virus that continuously has to study changing scenarios and devise new deterrents to keep up with the ever-changing threats.
