Activision takes down another 14,000 CoD cheaters as MW2 Season 5 looms

Activision’s eternal war against Call of Duty cheat-makers and hackers continues to rage, with a July 28 ban wave claiming another 14,000 accounts as the publisher steps up its game security.

In this particular instance, cheat-makers and software hosts were the targets of the ban wave, according to a recent tweet from CODUpdates. This appears to be corroborated by sources indicating users of popular cheating services InterWebz and EngineOwning were logging on to find their accounts locked for good.

Activision’s ban wave is right on time as the publisher prepares for season five of 2022’s Modern Warfare 2, with the new season dropping on Aug. 2 bringing a swathe of new content including maps, weapons, and operators to use in both standard multiplayer and Warzone.

Related: MW2 season 5 welcomes 4 new maps, 6 weapons, 6 operators—including hip-hop legends

Cheaters in CoD are now losing more often than winning as Activision continues to hit cheat providers directly. Since boosting its RICOCHET anti-cheat software in April to target Cronus and XIM users, fewer users are dodging bans and most aren’t returning to cheat software.

Further enhancements to RICOCHET in June for season four, which included a Hallucination feature to trick cheaters into targeting fake mirages of players, are yielding impressive results with yesterday’s culling another bright mark for the anti-cheat service.

Unfortunately, RICOCHET won’t be able to help the game’s namesake, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009), which is facing its own cheating plague after it was discovered culprits were injecting malware into unsuspecting players on official servers. At this time official servers remain offline, and it is unclear just when players will be able to return to the decade-plus-old game.

In the meantime, at least for MW2 ahead of season five next week, the ball is back in the cheater’s court. We know they won’t go out quietly.