Activision Tries Once More to Take Back Control – But Is It Already Too Late?
Cheaters have been ruining Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Ranked for months.
Since the launch of Ranked in November 2024, players have been bombarded with cheaters — aimbots, wallhacks, boosting. Activision has tried to respond, but nothing really stuck.
Now, the publisher is rolling out a new feature that, for the first time in a while, actually sounds like it might make a difference.
A Mode That Never Felt Truly Fair
Ranked was meant to be the competitive heart of Black Ops 6. But shortly after launch, it became clear: fairness was more a matter of luck than skill.
Despite waves of bans, an AI-driven anti-cheat system, and hourly checks, frustration remained high.
Over 19,000 cheaters were removed, but suspicious matches continued — and trust in Ricochet, the anti-cheat system, began to crack.
Lost Points Refunded — If A Cheater Was In Your Match
On April 22, 2025, Activision introduced a long-awaited feature: players can now get back lost Ranked points (SR) if someone in the match is later identified and banned as a cheater.
It’s all handled automatically. If you lose SR in a match and one of your opponents gets caught cheating afterward, the points are returned to you.
It works the other way too: if you’ve been teaming up with cheaters and gaining an unfair advantage, you could lose SR as a consequence.
Console-only Ranked? The Choice Is Now Yours
Another new addition: console players can now disable crossplay with PC in Ranked mode.
For many, this was long overdue — the PC player pool is widely seen as having the highest concentration of cheaters.
For console users, this could finally mean competitive games that feel fair again — where outcomes are decided by skill, not exploits. Whether these changes are enough to solve the cheating problem for good remains to be seen.
But after months of frustration, it’s the first time Activision’s response feels like more than a PR move. Maybe — just maybe — it’s the start of something better.