Call of Duty without cheats

One of the biggest companies in the gaming industry, Activision, has assured fans of the video game Call of Duty that they won't have to worry about cheaters when Black Ops 7 is released later this year.

Activision Blizzard is constantly fighting against cheaters in this title, who use various custom tools to give themselves an advantage in accuracy, reflexes, and stealth.

Before the release of Black Ops 6 last year, Activision confirmed that its anti-cheat software Ricochet had received significant improvements, including new machine learning-based behavioral systems focused on detection speed and combating aim-bots. When Ranked Mode became available a few months later, 19.000 cheaters were banned in a single week.

In April, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 introduced a console-only multiplayer mode designed to prevent PC cheaters from ruining the game. Still, many honest PC gamers were furious about the change.

In a new update, Activision has confirmed several improvements to its anti-cheat software ahead of the launch of Black Ops 7.

“Cheating is one of the most frustrating experiences in online gaming, and we know how quickly it can disrupt fair play when it appears in a match. It’s not a problem that can be solved with one upgrade, one detection, or one new tool. It’s an ongoing battle, and we’re committed to always staying one step ahead,” they explained.

According to the report, Activision has introduced 'in-game mitigations', designed to disrupt cheaters while they are still playing.

“We use these mitigations to learn more about player behavior and systems to help identify cheaters more quickly in the future. We start by limiting the cheater's ability to deal damage with weapons and vehicles, gather information that strengthens our system, and then permanently ban them from our games,” Activision emphasized.

They added that the Black Ops 7 Beta will have some Ricochet anti-cheat solutions to test how they work in real-world conditions, but that “full power will only be activated at launch, when all systems are online together.” This is likely done to prevent cheaters from gaining an advantage in creating bypasses to the system.

"We also want to be clear - there is no single solution to the problem of cheating. Every major game faces this challenge, and cheaters are constantly looking for new ways to exploit the system," Activision explained, adding that it is important how quickly they adapt.

"In Black Ops 6, detections are faster, mitigations are stronger, and penalties are increasingly precise against networks that attempt to disrupt fair play. In Black Ops 7, hardware protections like Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 will add another layer of defense," they emphasized.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is scheduled for release on November 14th for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC, and will also be available on Day One on Xbox Game Pass. Players who pre-order the game before its official release will be able to try it out starting October 2nd, while an open beta will begin on October 5th and run until October 8th.