Call of Duty has officially announced the name of its upcoming Anti-Cheat initiative developed specifically for its popular shooter. Called Ricochet, this is a “multi-faceted approach” designed to combat cheating using kernel-level monitors. Going forward Ricochet will be required to play Call of Duty: Warzone on PC.
As the intensity of cheating grows, games like Call of Duty: Warzone and even the Call of Duty: Vanguard beta have been victims of cheats. During a media tour for the upcoming Vanguard, Activision announced a new dedicated anti-cheat solution for Warzone and Vanguard.
That solution now has a name and additional details. Ricochet utilizes a kernel-level driver, similar to Riot’s Vanguard technology (unrelated to the Call of Duty game). If you recall, Riot’s Vanguard was criticized for having kernel-level access to a computer, but in recent months the tide has turned as Vanguard has proven to be effective at combating cheating.
Activision is hoping to do the same here with Ricochet. In an FAQ, Activision justifies its new anti-cheat by saying that as cheating software becomes more sophisticated, “A kernel-level driver allows for the monitoring of applications that may attempt to manipulate Call of Duty: Warzone game code, while it is running.”
Compared to user-level applications with limited access to a computer, kernel-level drivers will allow for more sophisticated counters to cheats.
Ricochet will not be always-on and Activision says that the driver will shut down when you exit a game and only turn back on when you start a new game.
Activision also says that Ricochet only examines processes that interact with Call of Duty: Warzone, and while it won’t completely eliminate cheating, it is a stronger anti-cheat than Activision has utilized previously.
Matt T.M. Kim is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.
