Activision Blizzard Bans 19,000 Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Cheaters in Just 5 Days Using AI

Activision Blizzard's latest installment in the popular first-person shooter franchise, "Call of Duty: Black Ops 6," was released on October 25. Surprisingly, shortly after its release, the game was plagued by a significant number of cheaters.

Cheating in "Call of Duty" is not new. Cheaters often use hacks to gain unfair advantages like wallhacks and aimbots, which drastically undermines the experience for players engaging in fair play.

Since 2021, Activision Blizzard has been deploying a kernel-level anti-cheat solution named Ricochet in the "Call of Duty" series. While effective, its efficiency in execution was still lacking.

In an effort to salvage the reputation of "Black Ops 6" and restore the gameplay experience for fair players, Activision Blizzard has turned to AI technology to expedite the process of detecting and eliminating cheaters. The AI system, through code optimization, has accelerated the execution speed, aiding the security team in catching more cheaters.

Distinguishing between elite players and cheaters can be challenging for developers. Activision Blizzard employs a new behavioral model in conjunction with Ricochet and AI technology for data analysis, achieving rapid detection and elimination of cheaters.

According to a report released by Activision Blizzard, since the launch of the "Black Ops 6" ranked mode on November 21, over 19,000 cheating accounts have been successfully banned, with some accounts being banned within an hour of initiating cheat activities.

Although nearly 20,000 accounts have been banned, combating cheating remains a daunting task. Cheat developers continuously update their software to evade detection, and there will always be players seeking to enhance their rankings or gameplay experience through unfair means.

This ongoing battle against cheaters is a significant concern for both the developers and fair-playing members of the community. It remains to be seen whether Activision Blizzard can minimize cheating to reduce its impact on legitimate players.