MORE than 50,000 Call of Duty players have been permanently banned from the game for cheating in the Warzone mode.
It’s a staggering crackdown given that Warzone only released to the public on March 10 – less than a month ago.
A permanent ban means the player’s account is never allowed to play on Call of Duty again.
It’s the toughest punishment a game maker can hand out to a player – aside from legal action. Forms of hacking include using “aimbots” to target enemies or “wall hacks” to see through structures.
There’s no place for cheating in games,” said Activision.
“Warzone has zero tolerance for cheaters. We take all forms of cheating very seriously.
“Maintaining a level and fair playing field for everyone is among our highest priorities.”
Activision says it has security teams monitoring Call of Duty 24/7 to investigate cheating.
And the company has promised to improve the interface for reporting cheaters in-game.
The game maker says all in-game reports are analysed and investigated.
If a player is found to be cheating – including using “hacks” – then bans will be handed out quickly.
Activision also says it will be providing a regular count on the latest number of players banned.
Call of Duty cheating – what will get you banned?
Here’s what you need to know…
- There are plenty of ways to cheat on Call of Duty
- Perhaps the most common hack is an aimbot – a piece of software that aims and targets enemies automatically for you
- Activision also explicitly forbids the use of wallhacks, which modifies the properties of walls
- For instance, wallhacking software could allow you to see enemies through walls
- Typically using glitches to escape outside the normal bounds of the map is also considered to be cheating
- Generally it’s a case of using common sense: don’t do anything that gives you an advantage that wouldn’t have been intended by developers
- Also, cheating on a sophisticated game like Call of Duty can be difficult – so if you’re cheating, it’s unlikely to have been an accident
“Simply put there’s no place for cheating,” Activision explained.
“We recognise that there’s no single solution for combating cheaters, it’s a constant enforcement every day, 24/7.
“Rest assured, we’re committed to ensuring a fun and fair experience for everyone.”
What is Call of Duty Warzone?
Warzone is a new standalone Call of Duty game that’s free to play, even if you don’t own a copy of the shooter. It pits 150 players against one another in a hectic battle to be last man standing and is available to download from March 10 on Xbox One, PS4 and PC.
Players form squads of three and the new mode supports crossplay, which means people on PlayStation and Xbox will play against one another. There are two Warzone modes available: Traditional Battle Royale and a Plunder mode.
Battle Royale games take on roughly the same rules as Fortnite, with 150 players dropping into a huge map where they fight to be the last man standing. As the match goes on, gamers are gradually eliminated and the map gets smaller via an ever-tightening circle of poisonous gas that you must dodge to survive.
Fortnite’s own Battle Royale mode helped make the game a huge success and it seems Activision, the studio behind Modern Warfare, is following suit. The other mode, Plunder, has players collect as much cash as they can by looting items and stealing enemies’ money across the all-new map.
