Warzone devs finally “purge” cheaters from leaderboards in ban wave

Warzone devs finally “purge” cheaters from leaderboards in ban wave

As a seasoned gamer with decades of battle royale and multiplayer experience under my belt, I can wholeheartedly say that the recent crackdown on cheaters in Warzone Ranked Play is a breath of fresh air. For far too long, the competitive scene has been marred by boosters and hackers, making it nearly impossible for legitimate players to climb the leaderboards.


In simple terms, the leaderboards for ranked matches in Warzone have long been controlled by cheaters ever since they were launched. However, developers have recently taken action using their anti-cheat measures to permanently ban accounts found to be manipulating scores (boosting) and restore fairness to the rankings.

On July 31st, I logged onto my Call of Duty account only to find out that I’d been booted off due to a ban – it turns out, I was part of the wave of gamers who were using hacks or boosting in ranked mode. The official Call of Duty Updates X page confirmed this.

According to a recent developer update, posted as an X-post, the RICOCHET Anti-Cheat team has set up new detection mechanisms to catch cheaters and boosters in Call of Duty: Warzone’s Ranked Play mode. Accounts found violating these rules have been permanently banned, and the leaderboards have been cleared as a result.

Despite the intention of global top-tier players being highlighted on the competitive game rankings, these frequently featured accounts that didn’t play fairly instead.

They might stand out due to exceptionally high Success Rate (SR) victories or a seemingly unbeatable track record, appearing to have won numerous games with very few losses.

Resurgence ranked leaderboard is just filled with boosters now
byu/epicdai inWarzone

Multiple strategies could explain how these Warzone Ranked Play participants managed to reach such a high ranking. One possibility is by employing software with wall hack features, giving them an unbalanced edge over other players in the lobby, making it significantly simpler for them to secure victories.

An alternative approach is employing “fake match lobbies,” which are essentially computer-controlled games devoid of human players. These digital adversaries gather in a specific area and offer no resistance, ensuring a victory and an abundance of kill credits that significantly boost your score, leading to rapid and excessive rank progression.

Cheaters are also a major issue in MW3’s Ranked Play mode, but the devs confirmed they’re in the middle of tackling the problem in multiplayer too: “A similar set of detections is in flight to target Ranked Play cheaters in #MW3 Multiplayer.”

Although these bans and cleanups of the leaderboard might not completely solve the problem, and it’s possible for it to resurface, it certainly moves us in a more positive direction.

The developers have aggressively dealt with cheaters following a successful lawsuit against EngineOwning. Subsequently, two other service providers were also shut down.

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2024-08-01 12:36