Call of Duty Developers Acknowledge Incorrect Bans by RICOCHET Anti-Cheat System

Concerns have arisen following reports that hackers in Call of Duty can cause players to receive a permanent ban without justification. In response, Activision acknowledged that genuine accounts were affected by these issues.

On October 3, 2024, BobbyPoff, a prominent streamer in the CoD community, faced a permanent ban from the game. Despite his strong claims of innocence and insistence on never having used cheats, he was unable to reverse the banning decision.

The situation escalated when Zebleer suggested that there exists an exploit that enables individuals to unjustly issue permanent bans to Call of Duty players, even those who are not present in their game lobbies. Zebleer estimated that this issue potentially impacted thousands of accounts, including that of BobbyPoff.

While many in the gaming community questioned the authenticity of Zebleer’s claims, Activision issued a statement a day later, confirming that the RICOCHET Anti-Cheat system had identified and neutralized a workaround affecting a minor subset of legitimate player accounts in Modern Warfare III and Call of Duty: Warzone.

📢 #MW3 #Warzone #TeamRicochet RICOCHET Anti-Cheat identified and disabled a workaround to a detection system in Modern Warfare III and Call of Duty: Warzone that impacted a small number of legitimate player accounts. All affected accounts have been restored. An…

— Call of Duty Updates (@CODUpdates) October 17, 2024

Activision confirmed the restoration of all affected accounts and reassured players that ongoing monitoring will persist.

Nonetheless, some players expressed that this response did not adequately address their confusion and dissatisfaction regarding how such an incident could occur.

ModernWarzone challenged the situation by querying, “What does ‘a small number’ actually mean, and how long was this ‘workaround’ being exploited?”

Warzone operator in Modern Warfare 3 — Activision

Following the controversy surrounding his ban, BobbyPoff celebrated the decision to overturn it, expressing frustration towards those who doubted his integrity: “For all the brain rot cancel vultures who lead lives so unfulfilling they spend their time chronically online looking to tear down anything anyone has put hard work in to build: Fu** you,” Bobby Poff remarked.

This incident occurs at a time when many Call of Duty players are already skeptical about the effectiveness of RICOCHET, especially with the forthcoming release of Black Ops 6.

Community feedback indicates that cheating issues appear to have escalated within Warzone and Multiplayer modes. On February 21, Activision responded to player concerns regarding a spike in cheaters within Warzone Ranked, suggesting that the anti-cheat system might have been temporarily disabled.

Activision’s acknowledgment of this exploit is likely to exacerbate worries as the gaming community prepares for the arrival of BO6.

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