Activision’s fight against cheaters seems to be paying off. Team Ricochet, the group behind Call of Duty’s anti-cheat system, says that the Black Ops 7 beta recorded the strongest anti-cheat performance in the franchise’s history.
The company claims that nearly 99% of matches were cheater-free, and that the median detection time for cheaters was just three matches.
These numbers sound impressive, but they also raise some questions. If one in every hundred matches still had a cheater, that’s not bad. But it also assumes Ricochet can detect every cheater, which is hard to prove. And while detecting cheaters within three matches sounds efficient, it also suggests that some players may still ruin a few games before being caught. For many fans, that’s still one match too many.
Team Ricochet says its detection systems have become faster and more accurate by combining software-level protection with secure boot and TPM 2.0 checks. The goal is to block modified systems and stop cheats before they even enter the game.
Beyond software updates, Activision has been taking the fight outside the game, too. The company has filed lawsuits against several cheat developers and resellers. The company claims to have shut down over 40 cheat-selling operations since the release of Black Ops 6. Some of these cheat makers reportedly agreed to stop their operations entirely, while others faced hefty penalties in court.
In early October, Activision said that 97% of cheaters were stopped within 30 minutes of logging in, and that fewer than 1% made it into live matches. Now, with the beta claiming 99% clean matches, it seems the anti-cheat team has made meaningful progress.
As Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 prepares for its full launch on November 14, Activision says Ricochet will continue to adapt and evolve. The anti-cheat system will stay active at the kernel level. This move is controversial since it gives the software deep system access, but Activision insists it’s necessary to stay ahead of cheaters.
If Ricochet’s numbers hold true after launch, Black Ops 7 could offer one of the cleanest multiplayer experiences in years.
