The Ironic Twist Behind Warzone's New PSA

It seems that almost nothing can stop "Warzone" cheaters. Cheaters have spread viruses to unsuspecting players, boldly showing off their hacking online, all while becoming one of the most talked-about gaming topics in 2021. Streamers like NickMercs have even quit playing "Warzone" after tiring of cheaters ruining the fun. When pro streamers reacted to the "Call of Duty: Vanguard" event, they seemed suspicious that the new title would hold true to its promise of adding anti-cheat software into the game. Now, it seems that they might have been right to express some healthy skepticism. While developers have begun showing off the new anti-cheat software, it doesn't seem to be working well.

Player Rushman360, who goes by Rush360 on YouTube, became the face of an official "Call of Duty" anti-cheat ad. Posted to the "Call of Duty" Twitter account, the ad showed a video of Rushman360 looking at his computer in shock after being banned. "Every one of my accounts are banned," Rushman360 said in the video. He concluded that the developers had hardware banned him, and even congratulated Activision on catching him, saying, "You guys finally got your s*** together." The ad ended with text stating "We know what we're doing. We're coming for you."

Comments on the tweet didn't seem too impressed with Activision's celebratory ad. Some users said they were banned because hackers used their accounts to cheat. One player even said their account got banned even though they play on console, which makes it nearly impossible to cheat. In other words, the anti-cheat software that Activision praised might not work as well as promised. For Rushman360, it certainly didn't.

Not long after the ad went live on August 30, astute viewers discovered that Rushman360 was indeed still cheating. Later that day, Rushman360 streamed a session of "Warzone" on YouTube, where he blatantly used cheats to navigate the game. Rushman360 even offered to help other players learn how to cheat using unlock tools during the stream, showing that he hadn't reformed from his rulebreaking ways.

Rushman360 streamed on the evening of August 31, talking to viewers about cheating and the Activision ad. He said that although he didn't want his viewers to see him as just a cheater, he'd take the label if viewers gave it to him. He explained that Blizzard banned him, but that it should still be possible for him to cheat in the future.

Rushman360 and his duo partner said that they cheat in the hopes that Activision will be encouraged to create an "even playing field," and that their cheating encourages the company to take action, but it's doubtful that the larger community would agree. Regardless, Rushman360 showed others how to cheat on stream, encouraging the community to embrace exploiting "Call of Duty." Even though Activision's anti-cheat ad ironically featured an unreformed cheater, it does provide some hope to fans that the company is taking cheating seriously as the release of "Vanguard" approaches.