Activision is stepping up its efforts to combat cheating in Call of Duty on PC as the launch of Black Ops 7 approaches, acknowledging that cheating remains a persistent challenge in the gaming world.
The prevalence of cheating is notably higher on PC, leading many console players to disable crossplay to avoid encountering cheaters. Earlier this year, Activision introduced console-only crossplay options for regular multiplayer, a move that some PC players felt penalized those who play fairly. The company has invested significantly in combating cheat makers, sellers, and users. In March, Phantom Overlay, a prominent Call of Duty cheat provider, announced its shutdown. Additionally, four other cheat providers were taken down before Verdansk’s return to Warzone.
For the release of Black Ops 7 on November 14, Activision is implementing additional measures to deter cheating on PC. PC players will be required to enable Secure Boot and TPM 2.0. According to Activision, “These hardware-based features will give us a stronger, more trusted foundation for detecting and blocking certain cheats before they can take root.” Further security tools will be tested during the Black Ops 7 beta phase. Activision stated, “These tools are designed to identify and remove cheaters faster, and we’ll be closely monitoring how they respond in real matches. The full force of our protections will be reserved for launch, when all systems come online together.”
Activision emphasizes that the fight against cheating is ongoing. “We also want to be clear: there’s no one-and-done solution to solving the challenge of cheating. Every major game faces this issue, and cheaters are constantly looking for new ways to exploit systems.” The company highlights its efforts to adapt quickly, stating, “What matters, and where we’ve seen real improvement, is how quickly we adapt. In Black Ops 6, detections are faster, mitigations are stronger, and enforcement is cutting deeper into the networks that try to harm fair play. With Black Ops 7, hardware protections like Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 will add another layer of defense.”
Call of Duty will now directly notify players in-game if they are placed in shadow ban status for Warzone and Multiplayer. “More than 75% of the LMM [Limited Matchmaking] pool is made up of users who have been brought into the system through parties, so this notification is important to clarify account status,” Activision explained. The company clarifies that being placed in Limited Matchmaking does not automatically confirm cheating but indicates that an alarm has been triggered, requiring further investigation.
Last month, Battlefield 6 developers discussed the necessity of security measures like Secure Boot. Battlefield 6 technical director Christian Buhl told Eurogamer, “The fact is I wish we didn’t have to do things like Secure Boot. It does prevent some players from playing the game. Some people’s PCs can’t handle it and they can’t play; it really sucks. I wish everyone could play the game with low friction and not have to do these sorts of things.” Buhl acknowledged the effectiveness of Secure Boot, describing it as “some of the strongest tools in our toolbox to stop cheating.” He added, “We were pretty happy with how the anti-cheat performed. Obviously I’ll say we can never be perfect, anti-cheat is always a cat-and-mouse game where we’re constantly going back and forth and keeping on top of what the cheaters are doing. But from the beginning this was something we put a high priority on, so when we launch this game we have a really strong anti-cheat program in place.”
Buhl concluded, “Again, nothing makes cheating impossible, but enabling Secure Boot and having kernel-level access makes it so much harder to cheat and so much easier for us to find and stop cheating.”
