Call Of Duty Has A Plan For Cheaters

Infinity Ward has a message for folks who cheat in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone: if you cheat, you're gone. Even worse, if Infinity Ward even thinks you might be cheating, you'll be forced to play with other cheaters. 

In a Twitter post, Infinity Ward detailed some of the changes coming in the latest update for Modern Warfare and Warzone. Along with additional dedicated security updates," Infinity Ward will now send confirmation of bans to players who complain of cheaters, letting them know that the person who caused them grief is out.

However, even more exciting than that is the lobby that will pit cheaters against one another in a lobby where they can't ruin things for everyone else. As Infinity Ward explains, the new update includes "matchmaking to match suspected cheaters together."

As with many other online multiplayer games, particularly those in the battle royale genre, cheating has been a major issue for Warzone. It's gotten to the point where many console players are opting out of crossplay, reasoning that the majority of the hacks and unfair advantages are coming from gamers on PC. This comes with its own drawbacks, however: since Warzone matches are made up of 150 players at a time, it can take much longer for players to get into a game when they're only being matched up with players from consoles. By banning cheaters and putting suspected cheaters in a lobby of their own, perhaps Infinity Ward can coax lawful players back into the realm of crossplay.

This update is actually quite reminiscent of the Bad Sports lobby from Grand Theft Auto Online. Rockstar Games introduced this feature as a way of corralling all of the people who have chosen to make the game less fun for other players. While most Bad Sports are folks who consistently drop out of missions or grief other players, Rockstar has been known to shun suspected GTA cheaters into these lobbies, as well. Bad Sports are then forced to play with other unfair players (and wear a hilarious dunce cap), which basically ensures that nobody in the lobby is having a good time. 

The threat of being sent to the Bad Sports lobby seems to be an effective deterrent for many Grand Theft Auto Online players. Reddit is full of horror stories from people who ended up in there for a short probationary period, and many of them express a reluctance to ever step out of line again. 

As one Redditor describes it, "Man, take the worst lobby you've ever been in, and multiply it times 100 ... I mean, it's an interesting experience, but not one I would recommend most normal people to try."

Hopefully the threat of dealing with a similar experience will persuade more Call of Duty: Warzone players to be on their best behavior.

Reactions to the update have been positive, with streamers like CouRage seemingly getting a real kick out of the concept of the cheater lobby. Call of Duty esports commentator Clint Evans remarked, "I think the cheaters vs cheaters is the most incredible thing that I have ever read."

The new restrictions placed on cheaters is indicative of a continued focus that Infinity Ward is putting on making the game a better place for non-cheating players. Earlier this month, Infinity Ward announced several new measures it was taking to ensure that cheaters get what's coming to them. Infinity Ward told players that there is a full team dedicated to finding and rooting out exploits in the game. The developer also explained that Infinity Ward's anti-cheating task force has doled out over 50,000 bans worldwide, a number that has recently (as of April 13) been updated to 70,000 bans. That's a fairly staggering number, considering the fact that Warzone has been out for such a relatively short amount of time. 

As Infinity Ward explained at the time, "We take all forms of cheating very seriously, maintaining a level and fair playing field for everyone is among our highest priorities. This is an area we have been working on heavily, but it isn't always something we discuss publicly. We have been enforcing account bans since Day 1 of Warzone's release ... We employ a number of programs in place to combat both cheaters and cheat providers ... Moving forward, we will aim to provide a regular count on the latest number of bans issued, as needed."

Now, if Infinity Ward could only stop players from using vehicles as unstoppable weapons in Warzone, gamers should be all set.