As community anger and insecurity around cheating in Call of Duty games reaches an all-time high, Activision has released a statement saying it is “dedicated” to creating a fair playing experience. To back up its statement, it reveals it has recently banned another 60,000 Call of Duty: Warzone players for cheating in a recent wave, bringing its total number of permabanned accounts to 300,000.
Whether it be in the competitive or casual scenes of Warzone or Black Ops Cold War – and Modern Warfare before it – cheating and hacking has been fairly common, especially in Warzone. Players have slammed Activision for not having a sophisticated and effective anti-cheat system for Call of Duty titles, despite the games boasting millions of players and generating $3 billion in revenue for the company last year.
In its statement, Activision outlines the work it has already done to combat cheating, before sharing that it will be ramping up its level of communication around cheating in the future with “monthly updates at a minimum.” It also says that Raven Software, which was recently handed responsibility of Warzone, will handle communications for the battle royale.
This statement comes days after one of the most popular figures in Warzone content creation, Vikram ‘Vikkstar’ Singh Barn, revealed he was quitting the game for good because of the game’s cheater problems. His decision spread beyond gaming circles, with large, non-endemic news outlets like the BBC covering his story and the state of Warzone.
Vikkstar also recently claimed to have an “open line of communication” with Activision on the matter.
Cheating allegations have been rife recently in the competitive scenes for both Warzone and the Black Ops Cold War.
We have zero tolerance for cheaters across Call of Duty and Warzone.
60,000+ accounts have been banned today. Follow @RavenSoftware for more #Warzone updates.
Details here: https://t.co/d6De7tY3AB pic.twitter.com/fOGTJ43b8U
— Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) February 2, 2021
A recent Twitch Rivals Warzone tournament, with a prize pot of $250,000, was marred by cheating accusations, with one team being thrown out for suspected cheating.
In the Call of Duty League Challengers division, played on Black Ops Cold War, pro players have been claiming tournaments are full of people using cheat software now that the competition has shifted from console to PC and is all online. The likes of long-serving pro player Doug ‘Censor’ Martin says the lack of a good anti-cheat means a switch back to console is the only viable option.