Summary
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has updated its Ricochet Anti-Cheat system.
- Account bans are now happening hourly, and the Ricochet Team has significantly expanded its Replay Investigation render farm, making it easier to identify cheaters.
- Season 2 of Black Ops 6 will start on January 28, 2025.
Big changes are in store for the way Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 handles cheaters, with the game announcing improvements to its Ricochet Anti-Cheat system. More accounts are being banned at a faster rate, and the leaderboard clean-up process is also being improved significantly. These changes follow complaints regarding Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, specifically the game's ranked multiplayer mode, which has been filled with cheaters since it first launched.
Released at the end of October, Black Ops 6 remains an interesting entry for many reasons, primarily the game's seasonal approach to new content. Much like its peers, Black Ops 6 dishes out new content on a seasonal basis, with the game currently in the middle of its Season 1 cycle. This update included new weapons and multiplayer maps, as well as Citadelle des Morts, the newest Zombies map to join Black Ops 6. Plenty more is in store as Season 1 continues and future content updates arrive, though developers are taking a much closer look at how Black Ops 6's anti-cheat system works, announcing improvements players have been hoping to see for weeks.
Call of Duty recently laid out changes to its Ricochet Anti-Cheat system, which addresses concerns a lot of players have shared since Black Ops 6 launched its ranked mode. "After a series of updates, our systems are in a better place today across all modes," reads the new statement from Team Ricochet. "However, we did not hit the mark for the integration of RICOCHET Anti-Cheat at the launch of Season 01 – particularly for Ranked Play." The Ricochet system has been tweaked in numerous ways, notably with how it handles banning players. Account bans are now happening hourly, with system response times being improved. Leaderboards are also being cleaned up faster.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Announces Improvements to Anti-Cheat System
The Ricochet Team also claims they have significantly expanded its Replay Investigation render farm, machines used to generate clips for further examination. These clips help identify cheaters, putting a stop to unfair play. Back when Black Ops 6's Ranked first launched, the game mode was plagued with cheaters and hackers, not only ruining the fun but hindering players' progression. While Ricochet has worked in the past, many felt frustrated by the sheer number of cheaters the system appeared to let into Black Ops 6. Another big part of the Ricochet system and its future is AI, with the team confirming it has been training models to help catch future cheaters at a faster and more reliable rate.
The Ricochet Team says its focus is ramping up the speed at which it enforces punishment in Black Ops 6, which in turn will hopefully cut back on the overall number of cheaters players face in-game. These changes come in the midst of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's Season 1 cycle, with the game's Season 2 kicking off on January 28, 2025.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 83 /100 Critics Rec: 91%
- Released
- October 25, 2024
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Suggestive Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs
- Developer(s)
- Treyarch, Raven Software
- Publisher(s)
- Activision
- Engine
- IW 9.0
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- Yes - PlayStation, Xbox, PC
WHERE TO PLAY
Forced to go rogue. Hunted from within. This is Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
Developed by Treyarch and Raven, Black Ops 6 is a spy action thriller set in the early 90s, a period of transition and upheaval in global politics, characterized by the end of the Cold War and the rise of the United States as a single superpower. With a mind-bending narrative, and unbound by the rules of engagement, this is signature Black Ops.
The Black Ops 6 Campaign provides dynamic moment-to-moment gameplay that includes a variety of play spaces with blockbuster set pieces and action-packed moments, high-stakes heists, and cloak-and-dagger spy activity.
In a best-in-class Multiplayer experience, players will test their skills across 16 new maps at launch, including 12 core 6v6 maps and 4 Strike maps that can be played 2v2 or 6v6.
Black Ops 6 also marks the epic return of Round-Based Zombies, the fan-favorite mode where players will take down hordes of the undead in two brand-new maps at launch. Post-launch, players can look forward to even more exciting maps and groundbreaking experiences dropping into both Multiplayer and Zombies.
- Cross Save
- Yes - PlayStation, Xbox, PC
- Prequel(s)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: World at War
- Franchise
- Call of Duty
- Number of Players
- 1-4
- Split Screen Orientation
- Vertical or Horizontal
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unknown
- PC Release Date
- October 25, 2024
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- October 25, 2024
- PS5 Release Date
- October 25, 2024
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC
- Genre(s)
- FPS
- How Long To Beat
- 8 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
- File Size Xbox Series
- 216 GB (October 2024)
- Local Co-Op Support
- 1-2 Players
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
