Call of Duty’s cheating problem has never been just a gameplay annoyance — it’s a business threat. As Modern Warfare 4 approaches, Activision is doubling down on its fight against cheaters, rolling out a major update to its anti-cheat system, Ricochet, while also expanding the team behind it.

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Ricochet : Key Details

Detail	Information
Anti-Cheat System	Ricochet
Announcement Date	August 14, 2026
MW4 Beta Launch	August 21, 2026
Required Security Features	TPM 2.0 + Secure Boot
Recent Hardware Bans	70,000
Update Schedule	Weekly, through Season 1 of MW4
Key Spokesperson	David Andrews, Senior Director of Game Security

Locking Down the Beta from Day One

Starting with next week’s Modern Warfare 4 beta, players won’t be able to go online unless they enable Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 and Secure Boot — two Windows security features designed to make system-level tampering significantly harder. According to Activision, these tools establish a “trusted foundation” for Ricochet, particularly for Warzone players, protecting beta integrity from the very first match.

A Two-Pronged Strategy: Enforcement and Perception

Activision’s approach isn’t just technical — it’s also about managing public trust. David Andrews described cheating as a systemic, industry-wide challenge that every major publisher must confront, noting that Activision has been unusually transparent compared to competitors who tend to stay vague about their anti-cheat efforts.

The stakes go beyond fair play. Andrews revealed that players who encounter cheaters show noticeably higher churn rates and are more likely to become cheaters themselves over time — a cycle with real business consequences. Activision is now working to close what it sees as a perception gap between its actual anti-cheat effectiveness and player assumptions about how widespread cheating really is.

“We see really healthy, low match infection rates across the board… but there are hot spots,” Andrews noted, acknowledging there’s no single silver bullet for the problem.

Hardware Bans Raise the Stakes for Repeat Offenders

Enforcement efforts have already produced results. Last week alone, Activision issued 70,000 new hardware bans, aimed at stopping banned cheaters from simply creating new accounts to return. The company has committed to weekly anti-cheat updates through the end of Modern Warfare 4’s first season, making the friction for repeat offenders as high as possible.