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What “before they play” and “before they win” mean
“Before they play” refers to screening or removing an account before it enters a first match. “Before they win” describes action after a match has begun: systems may detect suspicious activity and intervene before the suspected cheater can secure a win. An intervention can disrupt or remove a player from a match; it is not necessarily a permanent ban.
Activision describes RICOCHET as a layered system combining server-side tools, client-side detection, analytics, and a kernel-level driver on PC. The company says the driver monitors software interacting with protected Call of Duty games, is active while a protected game is running, and turns off when the game closes. Activision also says console players benefit from shared backend systems and cross-play protections. These are the publisher’s descriptions, not the findings of an independent audit. Activision’s RICOCHET overview explains the components and its stated scope.
What Activision’s reported figures show
The clearest examples are separate, dated company reports. They measure different things and should not be combined into one success rate.
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| Report | What Activision reported | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| March 28, 2025 | 23% of cheaters were removed before their first match; Activision also reported more than 228,000 bans since the release of Black Ops 6. | The first figure concerns timing of removal. The ban total is a separate cumulative figure reported in that update, not a current total. March 2025 update |
| November 2024 | Systems intervened in more than 582,000 matches to remove suspicious accounts before they could win, since Black Ops 6 launched. | This counts match interventions, not unique players or permanent bans. November 2024 progress report |
| September 10, 2025 | More than 55,000 accounts had received mitigations since August. | Mitigations are not equivalent to confirmed permanent bans. September 2025 update |
The reports therefore illustrate two points of intervention, not a guarantee that all cheating will be detected. Activision’s official material reviewed here does not provide an independently verified false-positive rate or a method for calculating a current detection-success rate.
How a mitigation differs from a ban
Activision’s September 2025 report describes disrupting suspected cheaters’ ability to do damage, collecting information to strengthen detection, and then permanently banning accounts. The order matters: a mitigation can affect gameplay while a case is being handled, whereas a permanent ban is a separate account action. The reported 55,000-plus figure covers accounts affected by mitigations, not a tally of permanent bans.
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What Black Ops 6’s beta figures add
In an October 2024 report on the Black Ops 6 beta, Activision said cheaters completed around ten multiplayer matches before removal in Weekend One and around five in Weekend Two after system changes. It also said 25% of Weekend Two bans happened during a cheater’s first match, and that more than 12,000 confirmed cheating accounts were stopped before entering a match during the beta. These are historical beta results, not a performance guarantee for current Call of Duty games. In that same report, Team RICOCHET stated a goal of catching and removing cheaters within one hour of their first match; that was a stated goal, not a present-day service-level promise. The October 2024 beta update gives the context for those figures.
PC security requirements and competitive access
Anti-cheat screening is not limited to detecting behavior in a match. Activision’s Black Ops 7 launch article says the PC version requires TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot. In a 2026 Season 04 update, Activision said Microsoft Azure Attestation checks would be required for competitive access. The update says players who fail checks are placed in a limited separate pool, while players who do not complete attestation have restricted playlist access. These are game- and playlist-specific access rules; check the current guidance for the title and mode you play.
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Attestation checks a PC’s security configuration. A requirement to enable TPM 2.0 or Secure Boot does not, by itself, mean every player must purchase new hardware. Activision’s Black Ops 7 launch article covers the stated PC requirements, and its Season 04 update describes attestation and playlist access.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Other measures named by Activision
Activision’s April 2026 Season 03 update names Cronus Zen and XIM Matrix as examples of unauthorized input-modification devices targeted by expanded detections. It also describes SMS two-factor authentication for new Activision accounts used by free-to-play PC players. Those measures indicate additional areas of enforcement; the update does not establish that every use of a named device is automatically detected or sanctioned. The April 2026 update provides the stated details.
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What the numbers can—and cannot—tell players
- Timing: Some reported removals happen before an account’s first match; other interventions happen after a match starts.
- Action: Prevention, restricted matchmaking, gameplay disruption, match removal, and permanent bans are distinct outcomes.
- Scope: Requirements differ by game, platform, and playlist, particularly for PC competitive access.
- Evidence: The figures above are Activision-reported and dated. They do not establish universal prevention, a current overall detection rate, or an independently measured false-positive rate.
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