Season 3 for Warzone 2.0 and Modern Warfare 2 is right around the corner. And we’re getting more than new maps, weapons, and fixes. Today, the folks at Call of Duty announced a new update for their RICOCHET Anti-Cheat. One of the highlights is the anti-cheat software can now detect third-party hardware devices.
The blog post touches on these devices:
“These devices act as a passthrough for controllers on PC and console and, when used improperly or maliciously, can provide a player with the ability to gain an unfair gameplay advantage, such as reducing or eliminating recoil.”
While the devs don’t specifically call it out, players are pointing to this update now being able to detect Cronus, which can allow players to get an unfair advantage via GamePacks (or scripts).
According to the Call of Duty’s anti-cheat team, this detection is now live. But what does this mean for players who use third-party devices? Detection won’t mean an automatic ban. First, players will see a warning if they are using an unauthorized third-party device.
The anti-cheat team goes on to say:
“Continued improper use of these devices may lead to additional warnings, the deployment of mitigations, account or feature suspensions, or the banning of the offending account across Call of Duty titles, per our Security and Enforcement Policy.”
They also understand that this fight against cheaters is a back-and-forth and will “monitor this new detection’s effectiveness and update our systems against further circumvention over time.”
Besides this new feature to detect third-party hardware, the RICOCHET Anti-Cheat is also getting a new Replay investigation tool for the team to better identify cheating behavior.
It sure would be nice to have a regular theater mode back too. For whatever reason, Call of Duty ditched it in Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2.
The anti-cheat team also said they are adding several new in-game mitigations. Right now, there are a handful of ways that devs punish cheaters before a ban takes place. Those include ‘cloaking’ legitimate players from cheaters, disarming cheaters, and giving honest players a shield to prevent damage from cheaters.
All this comes ahead of Season 3’s start date set for April 12, 2023. The next Season brings back the fan-favorite Intervention sniper rifle from the original Modern Warfare 2. A new 6v6 map called Pelayo’s Lighthouse and the Gunfight mode from the last Modern Warfare title are also coming.
We should see in-depth patch notes shortly before Season 3 kicks off later this month.