Following the integration of Season 1, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone have seen a surge of cheating, challenging the capabilities of the RICOCHET anti-cheat system. Activision has acknowledged that a data outage impacted the effectiveness of their anti-cheat measures after the Season 1 content launch. In a recent update, TeamRICOCHET conceded that while the initial launch of Black Ops 6 saw the anti-cheat perform decently, their efforts fell short during the rollout of RICOCHET Anti-Cheat with Season 1, especially in the Ranked Play sections.
Activision’s TeamRICOCHET, the team behind the anti-cheat mechanism, has announced the banning of 19,000 accounts primarily targeting cheaters in Ranked Play modes during Season 1. They are now rolling out ban waves on an hourly basis to tackle the increasing number of suspicious activities, bolstered by enhanced detection strategies.
The prevalence of cheating in Call of Duty Warzone and Black Ops 6 playlists has led TeamRICOCHET to expand its human moderation team and grow its AI-powered Replay Investigation capabilities. Updates to their RICOCHET anti-cheat, which operate at the kernel level, and the supporting AI systems are anticipated to detect and address disruptive players more swiftly. Additional client and server-side detection techniques are slated for inclusion in Seasons 2 and 3 of Black Ops 6 and Warzone.
Despite some achievements, TeamRICOCHET admits there is more to be done and expressed eagerness to reveal significant updates planned for the upcoming year.
TeamRICOCHET has shared some insights about the strategies for mitigating cheating tactics since Modern Warfare 2’s post-launch. However, they maintain discretion to avoid revealing too many details to potential hackers.
The announcement of stepped-up moderation and anti-cheat enforcement has seen mixed reactions from the Call of Duty community on social media. Over the years, Activision has increasingly communicated about RICOCHET anti-cheat, though they remain cautious in their disclosures to prevent cheaters from exploiting any shared information.
This cautious approach has led to speculation about anti-cheat methods among players. It’s confirmed that suspected cheaters could end up in restricted matchmaking pools. This has led some players to mistakenly believe they’ve been victims of spam reporting whenever they encounter cheaters or high latency issues.
Activision and TeamRICOCHET have, however, clarified that spam reports do not heavily influence the cheat detection process. Player reports remain a tool for identifying cheaters who evade other detection mechanisms. The phenomenon of spam reporting is not new, and TeamRICOCHET has long employed strategies to prevent false shadowbans.
Initial waves of cheat mitigation are likely driven by AI detection rather than by human intervention or false reports. The latency issues some players encounter are more often attributed to server problems experienced since the launch of Season 1.
Though being shadow banned due to spam reports is unlikely, it’s possible to face limited matchmaking accidentally. Early in Modern Warfare 3 (released in 2023), bans were mistakenly imposed on PC players using certain software. The RICOCHET system is evolving but still has room for improvement.
If you suspect your account is facing restrictions or a ban, you can verify your account status via Activision’s support page. If needed, a Ban Appeal can be filed there.
For those avoiding bans, honing skills may be the key. Check out controller settings to enhance your Black Ops 6 gameplay, or learn how to speed up your XP accumulation with specific loadouts. And for a challenge without the risk of cheating, dive into hardcore multiplayer matches to up your Call of Duty game.
