Activision banned 60,000 accounts for fraud in Call of Duty Warzone last night amid continuing unrest over burglary.
Activision said in a blog post that it has issued more than 300,000 permabanes worldwide to accounts since Warzone was launched in March 2020.
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The news follows increasing pressure from the Call of Duty community and comes after two sensational Call of Duty streamers announced that they had stopped the game due to fraud.
The anti-cheat of Warzone has been scrutinized by players, especially on the computer, and the release and developer exacerbates the problem through radio silence. Some console players eliminate crossplay in an effort to avoid computer hackers.
One of the problems has to do with the free download nature of Warzone. The perception is at least that fraudsters do not feel threatened by the prospect of being banned, because they can simply create a new account to cheat again. Even with a two-factor verification system, which according to Activision has invalidated more than 180,000 suspicious accounts since its launch, simple solutions are available for determined fraudsters.
Looking to the future, Activision said it was “increasing our efforts and capabilities” in a number of key areas, including internal anti-cheat software. The company is working on additional detection technologies, adding new resources dedicated to monitoring and application, and promising regular communications updates on progress, with more than a two-way dialogue between Warzone developer Raven Software and players.
“The security and enforcement teams have additional measures in place, as well as their application, throughout the year to eradicate both fraudsters and fraudsters,” Activision said.
‘We know that fraudsters are constantly looking for vulnerabilities, and we continue to dedicate resources 24/7 to identify and combat cheats, including aimbots, wallhacks, trainers, stat hacks, texture hacks, leaderboard hacks, injectors, hex editors and any third party software used to manipulate game data or memory.
“There is no place to cheat. We are committed to this cause. We listen and do not stop in our efforts.”
Activision is facing an uphill battle against Warzone fraudsters – and it’s a war that spans many games. The anti-cheat effort continues with Warzone, Black Ops Cold War and Modern Warfare, and will undoubtedly continue with the release of the subsequent games in the Call of Duty series.