Swaths of Call of Duty players are claiming they are being banned from the game unjustly. Activision utilizes its Ricochet anti-cheat software to detect when players cheat in multiplayer mode. However, some players claim they are being banned despite only playing single-player mode.
Former Microsoft employee Mike Swanson states that the combination of RICOCHET and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II’s instability upon release is leading to the software falsely identifying innocent players as cheaters. Players who recieve a ban aren’t even able to access single-player mode.
“As a developer, my personal theory is that the frequent crashes (and accompanying errors about corrupted files) are being incorrectly flagged by the RICOCHET anti-cheat software as intentional manipulations made by players,” writes Swanson in a blog post.
Swanson is far from the only player claiming they have been falsely identified as a cheater. Steam user Necron242 shares a similar experience in his review on Steam. Both Necron242 and Swanson were banned after experiencing game crashes. Many others complain of similar experiences in reviews on Steam and Activision’s Better Business Bureau page. Swanson, amongst many others, states they only play the game in single-player mode, making the bans even more infuriating.
“I can imagine the logic that would need to be implemented to avoid false positives like this, and given the number of game crashes, I suspect they have issues with RICOCHET that they’re unwilling to review. I have offered to allow Activision developers to connect remotely to my PC to debug this issue, but as of this post, I have received no response,” Swanson adds.
Anti-Cheat Falsely Flags Peripheral Software
One theory is that Ricochet anti-cheat falsely flags peripheral software such as Razer Synapse and GeForce Experience. Additionally, some users, including Necron242, state they attempted to repair their game installations not long before being banned.
Currently, Activision Blizzard doesn’t appear to be addressing the situation. Steam users have been lucky to receive refunds when requested. However, those playing the game through Battle.net are out of luck.
Despite the game’s issues Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 experienced the franchise’s biggest opening weekend earning $800 million worldwide in just three days.
Jack Brassell is a freelance journalist and aspiring novelist. Jack is a self-proclaimed nerd with a lifelong passion for storytelling. As an author, Jack writes mostly horror and young adult fantasy. Also an avid gamer, she works as the lead news editor at Hardcore Droid. When she isn't writing or playing games, she can often be found binge-watching Parks & Rec or The Office, proudly considering herself to be a cross between Leslie Knope and Pam Beasley.