Activision Will Let Call of Duty Black Ops 6 and Warzone Ranked Console Players Disable Crossplay With PC as Cheating Complaints Ramp Up

Activision has responded to widespread player concerns regarding cheating in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone, announcing plans to allow console players in Ranked Play to disable crossplay with PC players.

Since the introduction of Ranked Play in Black Ops 6 and Warzone with Season 1 last year, cheating has become a major point of contention among the competitive community. Many players believe the prevalence of cheaters is severely impacting the competitive experience, leading to criticism of Activision's initial response.

Activision's Team Ricochet, responsible for anti-cheat technology, acknowledged shortcomings in their Season 1 launch. They stated that while subsequent updates have improved the situation across all modes, the initial Ricochet Anti-Cheat integration, especially in Ranked Play, fell short of expectations.

A recent blog post details Activision's 2025 anti-cheat strategy. This includes the announcement of over 136,000 Ranked Play account bans since the mode's launch. Season 2 will introduce enhanced client and server-side detection systems, along with a significant kernel-level driver update. Further advancements, including a new player authentication system designed to identify and target cheaters, are promised for Season 3 and beyond. Specific details on this new system are being withheld to prevent cheat developers from exploiting the information.

A key immediate change for Season 2 is the introduction of crossplay disabling for console players in Black Ops 6 and Warzone Ranked Play. This addresses the widely held belief that a significant portion of cheating originates from PC players, a concern that has long led console players in standard Multiplayer to disable crossplay.

Activision stated they will closely monitor the impact of this change and consider further adjustments to maintain the integrity of the competitive environment, promising more details closer to the feature's launch.

While Activision's anti-cheat updates are often met with skepticism, this latest announcement is no exception. Cheating, while not exclusive to Call of Duty, has become a significant reputational issue for Activision since the surge in popularity of Warzone in 2020. The company has invested heavily in anti-cheat technology and legal action against cheat developers, with several recent high-profile successes.

Prior to the launch of Black Ops 6, Activision aimed to ban cheaters within an hour of their first match. The game launched with an updated Ricochet kernel-level driver (also applied to Warzone), incorporating new machine-learning behavioral systems designed for rapid detection and gameplay analysis to combat aimbots.

Activision acknowledged the sophisticated and organized nature of cheat developers, describing them as profitable groups actively seeking vulnerabilities within the game. They emphasized their ongoing efforts to identify and remove these cheaters, highlighting the inevitable traces cheaters leave behind during gameplay.