Not even CoD pros are safe from Ricochet as Black Ops 6 anti-cheat accidentally bans thousands

Call of Duty developers have revealed that its “proactive” RICOCHET anti-cheat system will be adjusted after thousands of players reported bans during the Black Ops 6 early access beta. Even a few CDL pros were caught up in the false bans, with many left waiting hours to re-enter the beta.

Posts across social media began to appear as early as a day into the Black Ops 6 early access beta this past weekend. Many CoD players palmed off complaints as these were believed to be actual hackers caught cheating on official servers, but then the pros began copping bans too, prompting many to turn on the anti-cheat system they so willfully trust.

A clip shared by the ShottzyHQ account on X/Twitter shows OpTic Texas’ Shottzy attempting to access both Black Ops 6 and Modern Warfare 3 after a match in which he dominated. Instead, he received a message stating he was “temporarily banned” from CoD. Fellow former and current pros Beans, KiSMET, and Crimsix posted similar messages. Most were unbanned after a few hours, but other players haven’t been so lucky.

The mass ban appeals have been addressed by the CoD dev team in a statement on Sept. 1 where it was explained that RICOCHET is “being proactive with detections during the beta to stamp out illicit and compromised accounts across all platforms,” adding that “tuning” for the system was also being tested. The team stopped short of apologizing to those affected, however, despite some being unable to access the beta for upwards of 24 hours.

It’s an especially bad look given many of these players aren’t cheating (or at least they say they aren’t) and forked out the preorder cost specifically to play the beta early. It’s led to some players outright refunding their preorders, refusing to partake in the beta further. “Not entirely sure why I’m banned. Cool system, I’ll go ahead and refund that preorder and save myself $70—thanks for nothing,” one player said.

RICOCHET’s had a rough track record over the past couple of iterations of CoD. While we’ve heard the system has executed mass ban waves with tens to hundreds of thousands of accounts restricted from accessing CoD, plenty believe it isn’t cutting the mustard.

The CoD team has a few days to reevaluate RICOCHET (and perhaps turn it down a notch) before the full open beta kicks off on Sept. 6.