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 complaints 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 concern for the Call of Duty community. Many players believe the prevalence of cheaters is severely impacting competitive gameplay, leading to significant criticism of Activision's initial response.

Activision's Team Ricochet, responsible for anti-cheat technology, acknowledged insufficient measures were implemented at Season 1's launch. They stated that while subsequent updates improved the situation, the initial Ricochet Anti-Cheat integration, particularly in Ranked Play, fell short of expectations.

A recent blog post details Activision's 2025 anti-cheat strategy, revealing 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 crucial 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 withheld to prevent cheat developers from exploiting it.

Season 2 will also introduce a crucial feature for console players: the ability to disable crossplay in Ranked Play for Black Ops 6 and Warzone. Given the widely held belief that a significant portion of cheating originates on PC, this option addresses a long-standing request from console players who have routinely disabled crossplay in standard Multiplayer.

Activision acknowledges ongoing monitoring and potential further adjustments to maintain game integrity, promising more details closer to the feature's launch.

While Activision's anti-cheat updates often face skepticism from the community, cheating remains a persistent issue across many online games. The problem has particularly impacted Activision's reputation since the surge in popularity of the free-to-play Warzone in 2020. The company has invested heavily in anti-cheat technology and legal action against cheat developers, achieving notable successes recently.

Prior to Black Ops 6's launch, 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 systems designed for rapid detection and gameplay analysis to counter aimbots.

Activision highlighted the sophisticated nature of cheat developers, describing them as organized, illegal groups actively seeking vulnerabilities within their games. They emphasized the continuous search for evidence left by cheaters to identify and remove them from the game.