If you think that cheating is a big problem in airsoft given all those “cheater” airsoft videos on YouTube, real or just made up, it is nothing compared to online multiplayer games. Just early this week, Activision announced a ban of 60,000 confirmed cheaters in “Call of Duty: Warzone”.

60,000 confirmed cheaters? That’s already a lot, right? Well, it’s already the third massive ban instituted, and Activision has already issued 300,000 permabans since Warzone was launched in March 2020.

The cheating issue is very much prevalent in the PC version of the game that console gamers disable crossover play to avoid PC gamers who hack the game so they can cheat. The problem for Activision is that is a whack-a-mole endeavor as banned gamers can download the game for free and create new accounts. Even with new measures such as two-factor authentication, determined gamers can find workarounds.

The cheating problem has just become a big problem that one of the popular COD streamers, Vikkstar quit the game. He explains in the video that cheaters livestream their hacks without being mindful of being banned or warned:

Last month, Drift0r, who does weapon guides and tip videos for Call of Duty and other FPS games, put out a video last month about the state of Warzone:

Steps taken by Activision are steps in the right direction, as failing to do so will lead to bleeding of users from the game. However, it is a never ending war for game developers and publishers, determined hackers will always poke it for holes and exploit it.

Below is the blog post from the Call of Duty staff on the latest cheating ban:

AN UPDATE REGARDING CALL OF DUTY® ANTI CHEAT PROGRAMS

We have zero tolerance for cheaters across Call of Duty and Call of Duty: Warzone™. Our focus is to combat both cheaters and cheat providers. Today we banned 60,000 accounts for confirmed cases of using cheat software in Warzone, bringing our total to date of more than 300,000 permabans worldwide since launch.

We are also continuing our efforts to identify and address cheat providers at the source, who distribute unauthorized third party software for modding or hacking.

We are committed to delivering a fair and fun experience for all players. This is a dedicated focus for our security, enforcement and technology teams.

Since launch we’ve taken a number of dedicated actions:

• Weekly backend security updates
• Improved in-game reporting mechanisms
• Added 2-factor authentication, which has invalidated over 180,000 suspect accounts
• Eliminated numerous unauthorized third party software providers
• Increased dedicated teams and resources across software development, engineering, data science, legal and monitoring

In addition, we’re increasing our efforts and capabilities in these key areas.

• Enhancements to our internal anti-cheat software
• Additional detection technology
• Adding new resources dedicated to monitoring and enforcement
• Regular communication updates on progress; more two-way dialogue
• Zero tolerance for cheat providers
• Consistent and timely bans

The security and enforcement teams have additional measures coming – both preventative and enforcement – throughout this year to root out both cheaters and cheat providers.

We know cheaters 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 that is used to manipulate game data or memory.

Our ongoing security and enforcement efforts are franchise wide across Warzone, Modern Warfare® and Black Ops. For Warzone communications, the Warzone development team at Raven Software will take the lead on sharing updates going forward. We will provide monthly updates at a minimum, and when possible, weekly updates to the community. Please give them a follow here: @RavenSoftware.

For the latest security and enforcement policy details, please visit: https://support.activision.com/warzonepolicy.

There’s no place for cheating. We’re committed to this cause. We are listening and will not stop in our efforts.

Thank you.