Call of Duty: Warzone streamers suspended for cheating after Mara actor calls them out
A duo of suspected Warzone cheaters are in the crosshairs thanks to Mara herself.
Update: Following accusations of cheating alongside Sarah "Icy Vixen" Belles, BeardedBanger's Twitch channel has also been suspended. The original story follows below.
Original story: A pair of Call of Duty: Warzone streamers are being accused of cheating after Alex Zedra, Warzone streamer and actor behind the game's Mara operator, spotted suspicious gameplay while hosting one of their channels. One of the streamers in question has already been suspended from Twitch while the other has seemingly deleted their archived videos.
Warzone streamer Sarah "Icy Vixen" Belles received a channel suspension today after Vedra tagged Twitch in a tweet showing a clip from Belles' stream that raised some eyebrows. In the clip, you can watch her track an enemy that she hasn't yet seen through a dirt mound, despite having no nearby pings from teammates that would suggest the enemy is there.
Hey @Twitch I hosted a streamer hacking during a tourney...just thought you should know. IcyVixen and BeardedBanger. pic.twitter.com/ZQgEpAgYeMMarch 12, 2021
Until today, Belles had been streaming alongside her partner BeardedBanger, who has amassed 40,000 followers and claims to have only started streaming 11 days ago. After defending Belles in a clip also shared by Zedra, it didn't take long for clips of BeardedBanger to come under similar scrutiny. The pair have both been accused of using an aimbot and wallhacks in-game and both have denied the claims. As of this writing, only Belles has seen disciplinary action from Twitch. It's also unknown if their in-game accounts have been flagged or banned.
Today, BeardedBanger seemingly purged his channel of all archived videos. I wasn't able to watch his streams myself because of this, but Warzone cheating watchdog BadBoy Beaman analyzed a number of BeardedBanger's clips in his own video before they were removed. The moments highlighted by Beaman are, admittedly, very damning.
Beaman also uploaded a similar video showcasing clips from Belles' channel before it was suspended. I've seen my own share of Warzone cheats in action and, to my eye, that's exactly what aimbotting and wallhacking look like. The way both of their cursors snap toward targets and maintain a lock on heads would require a superhuman level of precision that even professional players can't match.
In other words, the pair are either cheating, or they should be signed to professional CoD teams as soon as possible.
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It hasn't been the best week for Warzone hacking as the game celebrates its one-year anniversary. Yesterday, we shared a potential new hack that is letting players end matches instantly.
Thanks, Dexerto.
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Morgan has been writing for PC Gamer since 2018, first as a freelancer and currently as a staff writer. He has also appeared on Polygon, Kotaku, Fanbyte, and PCGamesN. Before freelancing, he spent most of high school and all of college writing at small gaming sites that didn't pay him. He's very happy to have a real job now. Morgan is a beat writer following the latest and greatest shooters and the communities that play them. He also writes general news, reviews, features, the occasional guide, and bad jokes in Slack. Twist his arm, and he'll even write about a boring strategy game. Please don't, though.