The highly anticipated ranked multiplayer mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, launched on November 21st, has quickly become embroiled in a controversy over rampant cheating. While Activision, the game’s publisher, proudly announces the banning of over 19,000 accounts and touts improvements to its anti-cheat system, Team Ricochet, skepticism runs high within the gaming community. Many players feel the efforts are insufficient to address the persistent issue undermining the competitive integrity of the game.
Activision’s recent tweet highlights the ongoing battle. They claim Team Ricochet is performing “hourly sweeps” to identify and remove cheaters from ranked play and leaderboards, along with enhancements to their AI systems for faster enforcement. The company’s statement acknowledges the ongoing challenge, thanking players for their patience. However, this message has done little to quell the growing frustration among players.
Prominent figures in the gaming world have voiced their concerns. Nadeshot, founder of 100 Thieves, a highly influential esports organization, publicly criticized Activision’s claims as “complete propaganda.” He pointed out the continued presence of blatant cheaters on leaderboards, questioning the validity of the reported 19,000 bans. His skepticism is echoed by many within the community who feel the situation is far worse than Activision is letting on.
The problem of cheating in Call of Duty is not new. The immense popularity of Warzone in 2020 exacerbated the issue, forcing Activision to invest heavily in combating it. This has included the development of the Ricochet anti-cheat system, legal action against cheat developers, and promises of faster detection and removal of cheaters – ideally within an hour of their first offense. Ricochet uses a kernel-level driver and machine learning to detect and neutralize cheats, such as aimbots, more effectively.
Despite these advancements and assurances, the implementation of Ricochet in Black Ops 6’s ranked mode has seemingly fallen short of expectations. The persistence of cheating has driven many console players to disable crossplay, effectively avoiding matches with PC players, often perceived as the main source of cheating. The fact that skilled players are encountering the same cheaters repeatedly only amplifies the community’s frustration and underscores the ongoing challenge.
Activision’s statement from last month acknowledged the sophisticated nature of cheat developers, describing them as “organized, illegal groups” actively seeking vulnerabilities within the game’s code. This paints a picture of a larger, more organized threat than simple “script kiddies,” highlighting the complexities of the ongoing fight against cheating in online gaming. The effectiveness of Team Ricochet and the future of fair play in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 remains uncertain, leaving a lingering sense of disappointment and frustration among many dedicated players.
