A hot potato: Nobody likes cheaters, and few people will object to them being permabanned from a game, but is banning someone from every previous, current, and future title in a franchise excessive? For Call of Duty cheats, this is the scenario they may be facing.
In a post titled Ricochet Anti-Cheat Progress Report, CoD's anti-cheat department, Team Ricochet, reveals some updates to its anti-cheating policies in the recently released CoD: Vanguard, including some pretty controversial changes.
One of the biggest surprises is that persistent cheaters who get permanently banned from Vanguard face being permabanned from the entire Call of Duty Series. That doesn't just include the 20+ CoD games released to date (where applicable), but also all future titles. "Permanent suspensions for security infractions may now apply franchise wide, including Call of Duty: Vanguard as well as any past, present, and future titles in the Call of Duty franchise," it reads.
There will be ways for cheaters to circumvent such bans, of course, though the post adds that "any attempt to hide, disguise, or obfuscate your identity or the identity of your hardware devices may also result in a permanent suspension." Ultimately, it shows the extremes Activision is willing to go to fight the cheating problem plaguing so many games.
Additionally, the contentious kernel-level element of Ricochet is coming to Call of Duty: Warzone, arriving with the Pacific update that launches in December. It will come to Vanguard at a later date.
While kernel-level driver-based anti-cheat systems are becoming increasingly common, found in games such as Valorant, Watch Dogs: Legion, Apex Legends, and many more, the potential security risks and impact on system performance they present are a concern for many gamers.