Activision Will Let Call of Duty Black Ops 6 and Warzone Ranked Console Players Disable Crossplay With PC as Cheating Complaints Ramp Up

Activision has responded to widespread player concerns regarding cheating in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone, announcing plans to allow console players in Ranked Play to disable crossplay with PC players.

The prevalence of cheating in Black Ops 6 and Warzone's Ranked Play, introduced with Season 1 last year, has ignited considerable debate within the Call of Duty community. Many players believe cheating is severely impacting competitive gameplay, leading to criticism of Activision's initial response.

Last month, Activision's Team Ricochet, the anti-cheat division, acknowledged shortcomings in their Season 1 launch. They stated that while subsequent updates improved their systems, the initial Ricochet Anti-Cheat integration, especially in Ranked Play, fell short of expectations.

A recent blog post details Activision's 2025 anti-cheat strategy. They revealed over 136,000 Ranked Play account bans since the mode's launch. Season 2 will introduce enhanced client-side and server-side detection systems, along with a major kernel-level driver update. Further advancements, including a new player authentication system designed to identify and target cheaters, are promised for Season 3 and beyond. Specific details on this new system are being withheld to avoid inadvertently aiding cheat developers.

Season 2 will also introduce a crucial change: console players in Ranked Play for Black Ops 6 and Warzone will be able to disable crossplay. Given the widely held belief that PC gaming harbors a higher concentration of cheaters, this option addresses a long-standing request from console players who already routinely disable crossplay in standard Multiplayer modes.

Activision stated they will closely monitor the impact of this change and consider further adjustments to maintain game integrity, promising more information closer to the feature's launch.

While Activision's anti-cheat updates are often met with skepticism, the issue of cheating is a significant reputational challenge, particularly since the surge in Warzone's popularity in 2020. Activision has invested heavily in anti-cheat technology and legal action against cheat developers, achieving several high-profile victories.

Prior to Black Ops 6's release in October, Activision aimed to ban cheaters within an hour of their first match. The game launched with an updated Ricochet kernel-level driver (also applied to Warzone), incorporating new machine-learning behavioral systems to rapidly detect and analyze gameplay, specifically targeting aimbots.

Activision acknowledged the sophisticated and organized nature of cheat developers, emphasizing their efforts to identify and remove these "bad actors" from the game by analyzing the traces they leave behind.