136,000 Call of Duty accounts have gotten banned since ranked launched for Black Ops 6: "We’re not slowing down in our mission to shut down cheaters"

A player wearing a gasmask and holding a gun during the shooter, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
(Image credit: Activision)

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is barreling towards the launch of Season 2, and ahead of that the devs are taking a moment to update the community on what's going on with anti-cheat. In short, well over 100,000 accounts have been banned since ranked mode was introduced, and the devs are working to make further anti-cheat improvements in Season 2 and beyond.

There have been "over 136,000 Ranked Play account bans since the mode launched," according to a new blog post. Notably, these are indeed account bans - the devs say they're not making use of IP bans "because they tend to take action against entire groups within a range that aren’t problematic. For example, a college campus or internet café would be swept up in an IP-based ban wave when only a single machine was targeted."

The devs note that they've implemented "new detection and warning systems for Spam Reporting," but say that spam reports don't actually work against targeted users because "our system does not consider more than one single report from a player versus another." That is, of course, "despite what cheat developers are telling players when they try to sell their illegal software."

In Season 2, which launches January 28, the devs are planning a "major" update to the kernel-level anti-cheat driver that's already live in-game. This will come alongside improvements to "detections and systems" both client-side and server-side. Sometime past the release of Season 3, the devs also plan to launch a "multitude of new tech" including a "brand-new system" aimed at separating legit players from cheaters.

"We’re not slowing down in our mission to shut down cheaters whose only mission is to ruin the fun for everyone else," the blog continues, "and we’re confident that the combination of the updates above, as well as ongoing improvements to our detection systems and Activision’s continued legal actions against illegal cheat sellers, will provide a demonstrably healthier gameplay experience going forward."

Looking for the best Black Ops 6 guns and loadouts? We've got you covered.

Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.

Read more
Venom, Spider-Man, Peni Parker, Scarlet Witch, Magneto, and Storm pose in artwork for Marvel Rivals
Marvel Rivals devs lift bans on players mistakenly banned for cheating: "We do not and will not ban players who are playing fairly"
Fortnite character Jonesy looks shocked in the story trailer for Season X.
Fortnite is now giving cheaters "second chances" with 1-year bans that allow you to use the battle royale like it's Discord and do absolutely nothing else until you're freed from the void
Two Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 players using omnimovement to dive past each other on the Skyline map
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 2 brings back a beloved game mode fans have been begging for, but all I care about is a practically meaningless bug fix
A player wearing a gasmask and holding a gun during the shooter, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
Call of Duty season 2 brings back Gun Game and a fan-favorite Zombies weapon we haven't seen in 10 years
Marvel Rivals Iron Man
Marvel Rivals devs threaten keyboard and mouse adapter users with permanent bans: "On PC or console, we will take measures to vanquish this nefarious behavior"
Marvel's Rivals
Despite Marvel Rivals' mod ban, fans of the hero shooter are dropping more custom skins than ever: "Modding Marvel Rivals lives on"
Latest in Call of Duty
A player wearing a gasmask and holding a gun during the shooter, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
Call of Duty season 2 brings back Gun Game and a fan-favorite Zombies weapon we haven't seen in 10 years
A player wearing a gasmask and holding a gun during the shooter, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
136,000 Call of Duty accounts have gotten banned since ranked launched for Black Ops 6: "We’re not slowing down in our mission to shut down cheaters"
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War reportedly surpasses Red Dead Redemption 2's huge development costs, with a massive $700 million budget
Black Ops 6
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 makes headshots deadlier while cutting back on weapon sway and recoil: "We will be keeping a close eye on sniper balance after this change"
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 movement.
Black Ops 6 player spent nearly 20 hours grinding to Prestige without getting a single kill, all by spamming Spy Cams
Black Ops 6 Zombies
Call of Duty hacker says "I had my fun" after reportedly getting thousands of Warzone and Modern Warfare 3 players falsely banned
Latest in News
Guy Gardner Green Lantern in Superman
Nathan Fillion says his version of Green Lantern in James Gunn's Superman is "a jerk": "He's not nice, which is very freeing as an actor"
Solar Opposites
Popular animated series Solar Opposites will end with season 6 marking an "unforgettable farewell"
Emilia Clarke in Secret Invasion
New Daredevil: Born Again episode references an all-but-forgotten Disney Plus show - and fans are happy to hear it
Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams in The Evil Dead
Deep-pocketed Evil Dead fans can buy the original Necronomicon, Deadite Linda's head, and more as special effects artist auctions off his personal collection
Two Helldivers pull a classic fart gag
Translating Helldivers 2 into a board game is about nailing the "correct satirical tone" says Jamie Perkins of SteamForged Games
Skyrim
Skyrim and Fallout veteran left Bethesda after 14 years because he'd already made 3 runaway GotY winners: "That's a really hard thing to top"