When the first season of Black Ops 7’s Ranked Play ladder begins this week, reinforcements will be in place in the battle against cheaters and hackers.
Call of Duty’s RICOCHET Anti-Cheat will have “a stronger form of remote, cloud-based attestation” ready to go when season two of BO7 begins on Feb. 5, which Activision describes as an “additional layer” of detection that “works before a match begins and builds on existing TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot requirements, setting a new industry standard for security.”
“This approach verifies PC integrity using Microsoft Azure Attestation, directly countering attempts to bypass system-level protections,” Team RICOCHET said. “It’s the most robust attestation technology available in gaming, and bringing it first to Ranked Play helps ensure competitive matches are won on merit. These added protections help stop cheating before a match even begins, so games feel fair from the start.”
In addition to this new layer, RICOCHET will be targeting players who use unapproved third-party devices to gain an edge, like Cronus Zen or XIM Matrix adapters, which the company said “are cheating tools, even if they masquerade as accessibility devices.”
“These devices provide unfair advantages that exploit aim assist and make players question whether they’re losing to a stronger competitor or to a cheater,” Team RICOCHET said. They disrupt fair play, and they’re a violation of Activision’s Security and Enforcement policy.”
Activision said that accessibility is important in CoD, but “these devices are not here to help with accessibility,” claiming instead that “they exist to give cheaters an edge over players competing fairly, and that does not align with our standards for fair play.”
Just like any modern online game, CoD has struggled with cheaters and hackers over the past few years, especially in the free-to-play Warzone mode, but not at all for lack of effort. RICOCHET sees updates constantly, and Activision has gone to the source by suing and shutting down multiple cheat providers over the last few years in its efforts to provide a fair experience. But these cheats are always evolving, and so, too, must the anti-cheat.
For all the info on RICOCHET’s changes ahead of season two launching on Thursday, check out today’s post on the CoD blog.
