Activision has announced its anti-cheat for CoD: Warzone and the upcoming Call of Duty: Vanguard. It received the resounding name Ricochet Anti-Cheat.
New Call of Duty Anti-cheat – Ricochet
The new anti-cheat for CoD has been officially announced. Ricochet is a “multi-faceted approach” that aims to combat cheaters. It will monitor at the kernel level.
Activision justifies this step (introducing an anti-cheat with a kernel-driver) with the words: “The kernel-level driver allows you to monitor applications that may try to manipulate the code of the Call of Duty: Warzone game during its launch.”
Ricochet is similar to Vanguard’s anti-cheat in Valorant from Riot Games. It will use the driver at the kernel level (kernel-driver). Previously, Valorant was criticized as anti-cheat; according to some, it possessed too many rights. It looks like Activision has learned a lesson.
They say that the driver will not work all the time, but only during the game in Warzone, and after the release, it will turn off. It is assumed that Ricochet will only check processes that are associated with Warzone.
Warzone Battle Royale players suffer from an influx of cheaters. It is possible that the new system will complicate the life of players who practice such unsportsmanlike behavior.
Multi-stage protection will launch in three stages:
- Introduce anti-cheat and improve server hardware;
- Introduce anti-cheat and add a kernel-mode driver (kernel) to the client on the PC;
- The driver will be added to Vanguard.
The driver is specially designed for Call of Duty. It aims to improve security and help catch cheaters, including by tracking file manipulations. Interestingly, the virtual overseer will start working only after starting the game and stop after it has closed.
In addition, the driver will collect statistics to improve the work with cheaters, including thanks to neural networks. After its launch, it will continue to be actively refined, including stable operation on all computers. On consoles, no additional protection measures are expected, except for the server ones.
Ricochet Anti-Cheat Release Dates
Approximate release date leaks. In Activision, they officially say only “until the end of the year.” As far as I know, the first season of Vanguard and Warzone will launch on November 23, when the full integration of shooter content will take place, and the Pacific map will also add to the battle royale.
- November 5 (Vanguard)
- November 23 * (Warzone)
- Before the end of the year (Vanguard)
At the same time, the publisher notes the importance of the players themselves in the fight against cheaters. So it is advisable not only to report all suspicious people during matches but also to enable two-factor authentication to protect your account.
Yesterday Activision loudly announced a large-scale war with cheaters in an open letter at all sites. Ricochet was called an online mod for the original Half-Life. It was made by Valve, and it is still sold on Steam for $ 3. Moreover, Gabe Newell himself has repeatedly hinted that, by analogy with Team Fortress 2, Ricochet may have a sequel.
Call of Duty: Vanguard launches on November 5, but Warzone has already added some WWII gear.