- Activision is now using its anti-cheat software, Ricochet, to monitor player inputs and other new detections to ban the devices.
Cheaters beware: if you’re using third-party software like Cronus and XIM to get an advantage, Call of Duty’s anti-cheat software is coming after you.
Call of Duty: Warzone and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 are plagued by cheaters, and Activision is now working to weed out players who use XIM, Cronus Zen, and ReaSnow S1, which allow them to exploit gameplay features like aim assist.
Activision is now using its anti-cheat software, Ricochet, to monitor player inputs and other new detections to ban the devices.
“These devices are not permitted in Call of Duty,” Activision’s Ricochet team said. “They are cheating tools, even if they masquerade as accessibility devices.”
This won’t be Activision’s first attempt to crack down on cheating; they initially targeted devices used in Call of Duty: Warzone and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, with mixed results.
“Stopping these devices takes more than looking for a specific piece of hardware because they are designed to hide, adapt, and change configurations to avoid simple detection,” Activision explained.
Hunting down cheating software is a game of cat-and-mouse for anti-cheat developers because it is updated frequently and sold through major retailers.
Activision is changing how it identifies cheaters, now using detection software to focus on player inputs rather than on cheating devices.
“We analyze input timing, consistency, and response patterns to distinguish natural human play from machine-modified input,” Activision said. “This allows us to identify recoil control, aim behavior, and input precision that exceed what is physically possible through a standard controller or mouse.”
Activision says the new third-party device detections will be introduced when season 2 of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 arrives later this week.
