Activision rolls out a Call of Duty: Warzone ban wave and promises that Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer is next: 'Leaderboards have been purged'

Two players back to back as someone parachutes in — (Image credit: Activision)

Thanks to a brief hiccup in Call of Duty's anti-cheat software, there was a spike in cheaters last week. While Activision assured players that the issue had been solved, we've just got a further update: The studio confirmed actions have been taken against certain accounts as part of a ban wave.

"The RICOCHET Anti-Cheat team has deployed new detections targeting Ranked Play cheaters and boosters in Call of Duty: Warzone," a Call of Duty Update X post indicates. "Team RICOCHET has banned accounts caught in this sweep, and leaderboards have been purged. A similar set of detections is in flight to target Ranked Play cheaters in MW3 Multiplayer."

The high amounts of cheaters have been painfully clear for ranked Warzone players for some time now. Plenty of players scoured the leaderboards, looking out for accounts with ridiculous SR gains and impossible win/loss rates. "Resurgence ranked leaderboard is just filled with boosters now," one player says on Reddit. The picture accompanying the post shows how an account at rank two somehow managed to make positive SR gains in almost every match—out of 18 games, 15 were positive SR matches.

Another player also points out that these accounts may not even be technically cheating. It's also possible for players to use VPNs to queue into a lobby full of bot accounts to farm hundreds of kills per match, guaranteeing 300SR or more. Although this practice will hopefully quiet down as Activision did point out that boosters were also targeted in the recent ban wave.

While it's certainly good news that Activision is doing something about cheaters, there are still some glaring issues, especially when it comes to the shadow ban system. "Fix your shadow ban and voice chat system," one player says. "How are you guys this blind? Are they forcing you to make skins? You can speak out. It’s safe."

The shadow-ban system relies on reports from other players. If there's someone who is seriously good and dominating in a match, someone can spectate them, and if enough people report the account, it'll get shadow banned. This prevents queueing for anywhere between three and 14 days. Most people who get shadow banned aren't actually cheating, so no further action is taken against their account, but it's still pretty frustrating.

Elie is a news writer with an unhealthy love of horror games—even though their greatest fear is being chased. When they're not screaming or hiding, there's a good chance you'll find them testing their metal in metroidvanias or just admiring their Pokemon TCG collection. Elie has previously worked at TechRadar Gaming as a staff writer and studied at JOMEC in International Journalism and Documentaries – spending their free time filming short docs about Smash Bros. or any indie game that crossed their path.