Activision doubles down on war against cheaters after MW3 Game Pass spikes

The last week of Modern Warfare 3 action has been dubbed a living "hell" by Call of Duty fans, as Xbox Game Pass has opened the doors to free accounts. With it, it feels like a deluge of free access for cheaters to continue plaguing the game with their hacks.

But while the scheming key punchers are wrecking the multiplayer experience with their wallhacks and aimbot, Activision at least has some of its own guns at the ready. The Call of Duty creator has doubled down on its war against hackers and has already been in cahoots with Microsoft to start hitting back.

Activision confirms RICOCHET anti-cheat detection is fixed after Game Pass blunder

Click to enlarge

Activision has confirmed an issue with its RICOCHET anti-cheat software where Game Pass users weren't being detected properly. However, this is now fixed, and even the new users will once again have to go toe-to-toe with the software.

"RICOCHET Anti-Cheat resolved an issue with a detection system over the weekend, which resulted in a spike in cheater reports," the publisher said on Twitter (formerly X).

"We remain committed to combating cheaters, shutting down cheat vendors, and providing our players a fair and fun experience," it added.

This all came just 24 hours after Activision successfully nuked the second and third-largest cheat provider websites, having taken down the biggest domain earlier this year.

Activision fixes Game Pass platform icon issue

One of the biggest defences for the hackers was that they could impersonate Xbox users when operating on Game Pass, as the in-game icon would show a console, even if you're accessing Game Pass from a PC.

This is also fixed, as Activision added, "We've deployed an update to differentiate the in-game UI icons displayed for Xbox and PC players who are using Game Pass."

There still remains the problem of accessibility for hackers, who no longer have to buy MW3 and can instead use free Game Pass trials to instantly get back into the game. Maybe it's time for a hardware ban upgrade to RICOCHET before Microsoft's marquee Black Ops 6 comes to life.