Call of Duty: Warzone fans question Ricochet effectiveness amid rise of Season 4 cheaters

A Warzone player shoots a gun from behind cover
(Image credit: Activision)

Call of Duty: Warzone fans are becoming increasingly frustrated with the prevalence of cheating in Season 4. 

Since the new season of content launched earlier this month, players have been taking to social media to share clips of various instances of suspect plays. A recent clip posted to the game's subreddit, though, has players piling in to share their grievances. The clip itself shows a player on a tower taking shots at other, barely visible players with perfect accuracy. Clips like these are somewhat easy to get, as you can spectate someone who kills you to see if they're suspicious. 

"It's been really bad the last couple weeks," one player comments. "Getting to be unplayable. My squad sees them almost every game now."

That comment sums up the gist of what you'll see online, with others chiming to share experiences or remark how blatant it's becoming in other areas. As spotted by Charlie Intel, one pro player has even taken to social media to question if the Ricochet anti-cheat has just been turned off lately.

Activision does comment on the state of cheating in Warzone on a somewhat rolling basis. In a progress report from June, the team explained that tackling cheating in Warzone is an ongoing fight as bad actors keep finding new ways to exploit the game and bypass safeguards. 

"Anti-Cheat solutions work like anti-virus software," the team says. "Let's assume that, today, we know all the nefarious ways cheaters try to impact the game to ruin your experience. Our team uses that knowledge to protect against that bad behaviour and punish bad actors. While our team has been able to establish systems that can quickly detect and respond to bad behaviours, we know tomorrow will continue to deliver new and evolving threats."

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That said, the developers say they're getting swifty at detecting bad behaviour and acting appropriately. Activision also confirmed that Ricochet Anti-Cheat will launch with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2 on launch.

"This is possible because of the foundation Team Ricochet has developed and iterated on since it first launched, as well as the close collaboration we have with game teams. Ricochet Anti-Cheat continues to get smarter and better as time progresses.

"Will you encounter cheaters? Sadly, perhaps yes, but we are working endlessly to be faster and better to get them out of the game (by force or by annoyance) and let you focus on fun."

Here's everything else we know about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 before the big launch.

Deputy News Editor

Iain joins the GamesRadar team as Deputy News Editor following stints at PCGamesN and PocketGamer.Biz, with some freelance for Kotaku UK, RockPaperShotgun, and VG24/7 thrown in for good measure. When not helping Ali run the news team, he can be found digging into communities for stories – the sillier the better. When he isn’t pillaging the depths of Final Fantasy 14 for a swanky new hat, you’ll find him amassing an army of Pokemon plushies.