How RICOCHET anti-cheat works in Warzone Call of Duty is getting kernel level anti-cheat
Warzone and other Call of Duty titles are finally getting a new kernel-level anti-cheat system called RICOCHET. Activision revealed new information about the previously announced anti-cheat system in a blog post on Wednesday, including the new RICOCHET name. The new system will be dropping with the pacific update later this year, and will apply to both the new title Vanguard as well as Warzone.
Yesterday, Activision warned that bad news was on the way for Call of Duty cheaters. "Cheaters aren't welcome," it wrote. "There's no tolerance for cheaters, and soon you'll know what we mean." Today it kept that promise with the announcement of Ricochet, a new anti-cheat technology that employs a kernel-level driver to "assist in the identification of cheaters, reinforcing and strengthening the overall server security."
"The Ricochet Anti-Cheat initiative is a multi-faceted approach to combat cheating, featuring new server-side tools which monitor analytics to identify cheating, enhanced investigation processes to stamp out cheaters, updates to strengthen account security, and more," Activision said. "In addition to server enhancements coming with Ricochet Anti-Cheat is the launch of a new PC kernel-level driver, developed internally for the Call of Duty franchise, and launching first for Call of Duty: Warzone. This driver will assist in the identification of cheaters, reinforcing and strengthening the overall server security."
Kernel mode anti-cheats, as we've seen previously in games including Valorant, Doom Eternal, and Genshin Impact, are often controversial because they're always on—essentially, meaning that they're always keeping an eye on what you're doing. Activision specified in a dedicated FAQ that Ricochet will only operate when Call of Duty: Warzone is running, however: The Ricochet kernel will be required to play online but when players shut down the game, the kernel driver will terminate as well. Riot's proprietary anti-cheat program Vanguard, on the other hand, has to run at all times to play Valorant.
Ricochet will only be on PC, but "by extension, console players playing via cross-play against players on PC will also stand to benefit," Activision said. Considering the most popular cheating tools around are aimbot and wallhack programs easily obtained on a PC, stamping out these cheating methods would effectively stop most cheaters, in theory.
"There is no single solution or policy to cheating. The Ricochet Anti-Cheat team’s commitment is the relentless pursuit of fair play, which is fought against the sophisticated issue of cheating. We are dedicated and determined to evolve the Ricochet Anti-Cheat System, fighting for the community against those that aim to spoil their gaming experience."
It'll be a tough sell, especially coming after the highly visible backlash against Riot received about Vanguard around Valorant's launch, but there does seem to be some early-stage support for the new system on social media. Which may not be surprising: Warzone is swamped with cheaters and conventional efforts to stop them haven't made much ground. An awful lot of players really something effective to be done: As redditor t_hugs3 put it, "Something about giving Activision kernel-level access to my computer doesn't sit right with me... but at the same time I've been killed by so many cheaters I could honestly give a shit at this point."
Call of Duty's new backend anti-cheat features will go live with the launch of Call of Duty: Vanguard on November 5. The kernel level driver will roll out later this year with the Pacific update for Call of Duty: Warzone.
The new anti-cheat system will be a kernel-level driver, dropping first to Warzone. Kernel-level driver means it is the highest level of access to your system, to help prevent cheats that run on higher levels of permissions. Similar kernel level systems have been implemented into VALORANT and EA titles like Apex Legends in recent years. The system will also use server side tools, according to Activision.
"The RICOCHET Anti-Cheat initiative is a multi-faceted approach to combat cheating, featuring new server-side tools which monitor analytics to identify cheating, enhanced investigation processes to stamp out cheaters, updates to strengthen account security, and more," the company explained. "The driver element of the RICOCHET Anti-Cheat system will check the software and applications that attempt to interact and manipulate Call of Duty: Warzone, providing the overall security team more data to bolster security. Once the kernel-level driver is deployed; it will be required to play Warzone"
Unlike VALORANT's kernel level anti-cheat, this one will only run when you are using Warzone or Vanguard, and will shutdown when you are finished with your game. They also attempted to reassure players that it will only monitor activity related to Call of Duty while active.
Developers also said they will be using machine learning algorithms going forward in an attempt to identify suspcious behavior via patterns in the future, in addition to the new anti-cheat and current player-reporting measures.
The cheating problem has been severe in Warzone for a long time now. It is so bad, in fact, that some streamers like Nick Mercs jumped ship to Apex Legends until Warzone addressed the cheating issues. While many players are skeptical about whether the anti-cheat will be effective, many are still hopeful
that this system will reduce cheating and improve the Warzone play experience.
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TL;DR - The new RICOCHET anti-cheat is kernel level, it only turns on when you run the game, it turns off when you end your game, and it will only look at applications that are related to Call of Duty, according to developers.