It was just announced by Activision’s Team RICOCHET – the anti-cheat squad – that 27,000 accounts were banned across Warzone and Modern Warfare 3 in just two days. This news follows a series of upgrades made by the team to detection systems, which are starting to lean heavily into AI and machine learning solutions. It’s reportedly the first of many major ban waves that are designed to tackle the increasing number of malicious operators in the Call of Duty ecosystem.

It might seem like a large number, but it’s not the most accounts that have been banned by Activision in one sweep. That’s indicative of the wider problem, which has been presented in the core Call of Duty ecosystem now for more than five years. It was made much worse when Call of Duty: Warzone was released, and since then, foul players and cheat providers have worked tirelessly to combat Activision’s efforts to stamp them out.

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Why Bother?

For the longest time, the Call of Duty community has rebelled against cheaters and other malicious actors in the Call of Duty space. Many claim there’s no point to cheating in these games, as there is nothing to gain – even when cheating in competitive modes like Ranked Play. For the most part, people cheat because they’re eager to spoil everyone else’s entertainment or to trick the content creation world into believing they’re better than they say they are.

Activision has been clamping down on cheat providers in recent years and has taken some of these ‘companies’ to court, forcing them to shut down. There was an incident recently that saw hundreds of thousands of cheaters punished as hackers breached a site that provides software used to alter Call of Duty games. In a bizarre twist of fate, Activision partnered with the provider to resolve the issue, which impacted countless accounts.

In an update posted by Team RICOCHET recently, it was confirmed that:

‘Team RICOCHET identified and banned over 27,000 accounts over the weekend through a series of upgraded detection systems. The team is progressing on a new set of security updates and anticipates more ban waves to come.’

Despite the recent upgrades to the security systems, many players are still reporting being shadowbanned – or temporarily suspended – for no reason. That’s something that Activision is tackling now but hasn’t provided any updates on.

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