Call of Duty Warzone Banned Over 60,000 Accounts For Cheating

Cheating is still rampant in sports, but Activision and the developers of Call of Duty: Warzone are committed to winning the war against hackers. On February 2, Call of Duty, through its official Twitter page announced its displeasure with cheating. The tweet read, “We have zero tolerance for cheaters across Call of Duty and Warzone. 60,000+ accounts have been banned today.” The announcement breaks the silence from Activision since April 2020, concerning hackers and the ban.

Since the launch of the game, over 300 thousand accounts have been banned for cheating. The most recent ban came in April 2020, where 70,000 bans were issued by Infinity Ward. A rather unconventional approach was taken by the developers after the April ban. Those suspected of cheating were matched against each other often. It turns out that method was not enough to dissuade hackers. In July, the developers promised frequent ban waves, but since then, it has been relatively quiet with regards to cheating in Warzone and its handling. Now, the operation on bans has been handed over to Raven Software. Activision has also promised monthly updates, and if necessary, weekly updates.

Activision’s Commitment to The War Against Hackers

Activision has recognized the persistence of hackers in looking for vulnerabilities in the game. However, they have promised to dedicate resources aimed at tackling hackers 24/7. In a statement, Activision said that these resources will help identify and combat cheats in whatever form. Areas the company will be paying attention to are, “aimbots, wallhacks, trainers, stat hacks, texture hacks, leaderboard hacks, injectors, hex editors, and any third party software that is used to manipulate game data or memory.”

Warzone was launched in March 2020, and since then, updates have been made regularly to easily identify cheats. Two-factor authentication is one of such updates that has helped invalidate over 180,000 accounts. Also, several unauthorized third-party software providers have been disabled. However, these steps are not enough as Activision has announced the implementation of several other technologies that will help in monitoring and enforcing bans when any form of cheating is detected. Their silence on the issue is now justified as it is clear they have been working in the background to ensure cheat-free gaming. With this being the first time Activision has commented on anti-cheat in Warzone, it is evident that they mean business.

Warzone was filled with cheaters and hackers, and it almost was as if players were left to tackle the situation themselves. With the recent announcement, there is hope that coming across cheats in battle royale will be less likely. It will be difficult for players and competitors to believe the changes, but the knowledge that something is being done can be soothing. As events unfold in Warzone, we will see to what extent these measures put in place by Activision are effective. For now, everyone is holding on to the promises made and are hopeful for a cheat-free Warzone.

Another piece of information worth sharing is that Activision has said that this is a year-long commitment. They stated that the measures being implemented will be preventative, and at the same time enforce disciplinary actions against cheaters and cheat providers throughout the year.