Activision Allows Console Players to Disable Crossplay Amid Cheating Surge in Call of Duty Black Ops 6 and Warzone

Activision has taken significant steps to address the community's concerns about cheating in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone, particularly following the introduction of Ranked Play in Season 1 last year. The issue of cheating has been a major point of contention among the game's dedicated fanbase, with many feeling that it undermines the integrity of competitive multiplayer. In response to criticism, Activision's Team Ricochet, which oversees the game's anti-cheat technology, acknowledged that their initial efforts at the start of Season 1 were insufficient.

In a recent blog post, Activision laid out its strategy to combat cheating throughout 2025, revealing that they have banned over 136,000 accounts in Ranked Play since its inception. With the imminent launch of Season 2, the company is set to roll out enhanced client and server-side detection systems, along with a significant update to the kernel-level driver. Looking further ahead, Season 3 and beyond will see the introduction of a multitude of new technologies, including a novel system designed to authenticate genuine players and more effectively target cheaters. While specific details were not disclosed to avoid tipping off cheat developers, Activision promised a robust approach to maintaining game integrity.

In a move to address immediate concerns, Activision will introduce an option for console players to disable crossplay in Black Ops 6 and Warzone Ranked Play starting with Season 2. This change comes in response to the widespread belief that cheating is more prevalent among PC players, and reflects a long-standing practice among console players to disable crossplay in standard multiplayer modes to avoid potential cheaters. "We'll be monitoring closely and will consider further changes to prioritize the integrity of the ecosystem, and we’ll have more details to share as we get closer to the launch of this feature," Activision stated.

Despite these efforts, Activision's anti-cheat updates often face skepticism from the community. Cheating is a pervasive issue across the gaming industry, but it has particularly impacted Activision's reputation since the launch of the free-to-play Warzone in 2020. The company has invested heavily in anti-cheat technology and legal action against cheat developers, achieving several notable victories.

Ahead of Black Ops 6's release, Activision set a goal to remove cheaters from the game within an hour of their first match. The launch of Black Ops 6 included an updated kernel-level driver for Ricochet, along with new machine-learning behavioral systems aimed at quickly detecting and analyzing gameplay to combat aim bots.

Activision emphasized the sophistication of cheat developers, describing them as organized groups that meticulously analyze game data to find exploitable weaknesses. "The people behind cheats are organized, illegal groups that pick apart every piece of data within our games to look for some way to make cheating possible," the company stated. They likened these developers to criminals who profit from undermining game developers' efforts. However, Activision noted that cheat developers inevitably leave traces of their activities, which the company continuously seeks to identify and use to remove cheaters from the game.