Multiplayer matches on Activision's latest Call of Duty games will see fewer cheaters soon.
The video game developer recently announced that its RICOHET anti-cheat team had added new security and detection layers to protect all multiplayer game modes for ranked play for Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2.0.
These layers follow RICOCHET's previous anti-cheat measures like cloaking, disarming, and damage shield.
Call of Duty Anti-Cheat Software Addition
Activision's RICOCHET team has some additions to its anti-cheat software to keep games even and fair. According to a Call of Duty blog post, the team added a third-party hardware device detection software into its anti-cheat software that detects if a player is using third-party hardware devices that alter the Call of Duty experience.
These third-party hardware devices include XIM, Cronus Zen, and ReaSnow S1 - three widely used third-party hardware devices in Call of Duty that provide players with unfair advantages, per The Verge. According to RICOCHET, these devices act as a passthrough for controllers on PC and console and, when used improperly or maliciously, can provide a player an unfair gameplay advantage, such as reducing or eliminating recoil.
Should RICOCHET's new detection tool catches a player using third-party hardware devices, the software would warn about the improper use of such devices when the player logs into online gaming. A player risks becoming the target of cheating mitigations like cloaking and disarming, account or feature suspensions, or banning their account across all Call of Duty titles if they persist in using such hardware.
Additionally, RICOCHET added a replay investigation tool that uses captured and stored match gameplay data for RICOCHET to watch as part of its investigation process to determine if a player did indeed cheat during a ranked match. This recording automatically starts at the beginning of a match and will capture and store all data "for the highest tiers of competition" for potential investigation use.
Last but not least in RICOCHET's additions are more behavior warnings; players who were caught boosting, game glitching, exploiting, and player griefing will see in-game warnings detailing which of the previously mentioned offenses they could be punished for.
Should they continue their offensive behavior, players could find their accounts receiving additional warnings and penalties like game or feature suspensions, progression resets, and more.
The Latest In XIM Baning
Activision is the latest in the gaming industry to ban third-party hardware devices like XIM; it follows Ubisoft's announcement that it would start penalizing Rainbow Six Siege players that cheat using such devices to spoof controller inputs. This penalty includes more input latency to negatively affect their aim until players using them unplug such devices.
Epic Games also laid down a similar rule to prevent players from using such hardware last year. However, instead of increased input latency, cheaters would be permanently banned from Fortnite Battle Royale. Unfortunately, many cheaters found a way to bypass Epic Games' anti-cheat software and detection system, allowing them to get away with their ill-gotten wins.
