"Activision Allows Console Players to Disable Crossplay Amid Cheating Surge"

Activision has taken significant steps to address the ongoing issue of cheating in the Call of Duty community, particularly with the recent releases of Black Ops 6 and Warzone. The introduction of Ranked Play in these games last year sparked widespread complaints from hardcore fans about the prevalence of cheaters, which they felt was undermining the competitive integrity of multiplayer modes. In response to the criticism, Activision's Team Ricochet, the group behind the game's anti-cheat technology, acknowledged that their efforts at the launch of Season 1 were insufficient, especially for Ranked Play.

In a recent blog post, Activision detailed its strategy to combat cheating in Call of Duty throughout 2025. Since the launch of Ranked Play, the company has banned over 136,000 accounts. With the upcoming Season 2, Activision plans to introduce enhanced client and server-side detection systems, along with a significant update to the kernel-level driver. Looking further ahead, Season 3 and beyond will see the implementation of new technology, including a system designed to authenticate legitimate players and specifically target cheaters. While specifics on this new system were not disclosed to avoid tipping off cheat developers, Activision is committed to continuous improvement.

In a move to address immediate concerns, Activision will allow console players in Black Ops 6 and Warzone Ranked Play to disable crossplay starting with Season 2. This feature, long requested by the community, aims to reduce cheating by isolating console players from PC players, where cheating is more prevalent. "We'll be monitoring closely and will consider further changes to prioritize the integrity of the ecosystem, and we’ll have more details to share as we get closer to the launch of this feature," Activision stated.

Despite these efforts, skepticism remains among hardcore fans, a sentiment fueled by the persistent cheating problem that has plagued Call of Duty, especially since the launch of the free-to-play Warzone in 2020. Activision has invested heavily in anti-cheat technology and legal action against cheat developers, with several notable victories in recent times.

Ahead of Black Ops 6's launch, Activision set a goal to remove cheaters from the game within an hour of their first match. The game was released with an updated kernel-level driver and new machine-learning systems designed to quickly detect and analyze gameplay to combat aim bots. "The people behind cheats are organized, illegal groups that pick apart every piece of data within our games to look for some way to make cheating possible," Activision explained. "These bad guys are not just some script kiddies poking around with code they found online. They are a collective who profit from exploiting the hard work of game developers across the industry. But cheat developers are flawed (clearly — they have to pretend to be good at video games). Every time they cheat, they leave breadcrumbs behind. We’re always looking for those breadcrumbs to find the bad actors and get them out of the game."