#TeamRICOCHET outlines updates to anti-cheat systems
Since Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was released in October, the anti-cheat team and development studios have been working on various updates to help prevent, identify, and remove cheaters. The anti-cheat systems performed well during the Black Ops 6 launch window, and as a result, the teams shifted focus to preparations for Season 01.
After a series of updates our systems are in a better place today across all modes; however, we did not hit the mark for the integration of RICOCHET Anti-Cheat at the launch of Season 01 – particularly for Ranked Play.
We understand the promise of glory and notoriety from Ranked Play leaderboards makes Ranked Play an attractive target for cheaters. For this reason, our teams have been especially focused on turning the tide to deliver the competitive arena our players seek.
Here’s what we’ve done:
- Upgrades & Accounts: Account bans are now happening hourly due to increased velocity from several RICOCHET Anti-Cheat systems, this in addition to the over 19,000 accounts we’ve removed recently. These updates to our systems mean enforcement response times are now quicker than they have ever been.
- Leaderboards: The cleanup process has been updated for faster synchronization of leaderboard changes.
- Investigations: We have significantly expanded our Replay Investigation render farm – the machines used to generate clips for examination. We've also ramped up the group dedicated to manually review clips (based on a priority order that favors detections). In the last several weeks, the Replay tool updates have been highly effective at validating detections and reports, providing further training for AI systems for the anti-cheat team, and removing cheaters.
Our focus is ramping up speed of enforcement when cheaters do make it through our initial checks, which eliminates many bad actors before they make it into the game. We use a series of systems that include human reviews, kernel driver detections to block memory tampering, client-side and server-side detections to flag suspicious behavior, and AI systems to get illicit accounts out of the game as quickly as possible.
Looking forward, the team is developing major updates for RICOCHET Anti-Cheat systems, including our kernel-level driver and brand-new server-side protections, launching during Season 02 and Season 03. More on those updates as we get closer to those season launches.
While we continue in our effort, a reminder that there are steps you can take to partner with us in the fight against cheaters, including ensuring your account is 2FA enabled. The things you work so hard to earn (Ranked Play status, camos, etc.) are attractive targets to cheaters who want nice things but don’t like to put in the work. And as always, please report cheaters you see in-game. We use these reports in our investigations into new and emerging cheats, and we appreciate your efforts to raise these flags for us.
The RICOCHET Anti-Cheat team will be continuing its work to fight cheaters throughout the remainder of the month. While we have made progress, we know more needs to be done and we’re eager to share details of our planned major updates coming in the new year.
Keep an eye out for updates in future Progress Reports and across social media, particularly the @CODUpdates X social account for real-time issues.
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