Call Of Duty: Vanguard Adds Ricochet Anti-Cheat, 54,000 More Accounts Banned

Call of Duty's new anti-cheat software, Ricochet, is now available for Call of Duty: Vanguard. The kernel-level PC driver launched in 2021 for Call of Duty: Warzone, and now it's available in the latest mainline entry in the series.

The driver includes "all upgrades" since it launched in 2021 for the battle royale game, as well as new ones for Vanguard. These new updates are also being added to Ricochet for Warzone to "bring parity for anti-cheat drivers across both titles," Activision said in a blog post.

"This is a necessary step when making significant updates to our anti-cheat system and to minimize any issues players may encounter," the company explained.

The publisher also clarified that anyone banned for cheating in Warzone or Vanguard will be deleted from leaderboards. What's more, Activision shed new light on a further tactic it's taking to give cheaters a hard time. "Cloaking" is a new system that makes players identified as cheaters unable to see opposing players in the game.

"Characters, bullets, even sound from legitimate players will be undetectable to cheaters. Legitimate players, however, can see cheaters impacted by cloaking... and can dole out in-game punishment," Activision said.

Additionally, Activision announced it had banned more than 54,000 accounts since it announced 90,000 bans at the end of March. "While we may not announce all bans as they happen, know they occur both daily and in waves," Activision said.

Finally, the publisher said it encourages players to continue to report cheaters, because Activision's own tools can only do so much as cheaters continue to find new ways to get a leg up.

Season 3 for Warzone and Vanguard arrives April 27, and it's another massive season for the latest Call of Duty titles. Godzilla and King Kong are coming to Warzone in May as part of an Operation Monarch event.

Looking further out, Activision will launch Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2 this year, and it could be a pivotal moment for the series, which is slowing down lately.

Activision Blizzard has come under pressure and scrutiny lately for its workplace culture, as well as controversies surrounding its top boss, Bobby Kotick, who is accused of knowing about and covering up instances of sexual harassment and abuse. Kotick reportedly also threatened to kill someone.