Updates to device detections and new account security measures help keep matches clean in Season 03
Protecting fair play in Call of Duty requires constant adaptation.
With Season 03, #TeamRICOCHET is expanding device detections, updating attestation messaging, and adding new account security measures to make it harder for bad actors to reach your matches or affect your accounts.
All of this supports one goal: ensuring your matches are competitive and decided by skill.
Season 03 at a glance:
Expanded Device Detections: Continued work to detect and take action against players using unauthorized input modification devices that create unfair advantages, such as Cronus Zen and XIM Matrix.
New Account Security (SMS 2FA): SMS two-factor authentication introduced for new Activision accounts used by free-to-play PC players, helping protect against account compromise, farming, and repeat offenders.
Attestation Notification Updates: New in-game messages will notify players who do not meet TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot requirements that failing to enable these features will soon limit playlist access.
Two-Factor Authentication
In Season 03, we’re introducing SMS two-factor authentication for new Activision accounts used by free-to-play PC players. This extra layer of protection helps keep your Activision account safe by requiring a second step to verify your identity when logging in or when we detect suspicious activity.
We’ll start with newly created PC accounts and expand to existing accounts over the coming weeks.
This applies to free-to-play PC players who do not own a Call of Duty title released within the last two years and will be enforced on a per-platform basis.
Raising the barrier to entry makes it harder for banned cheaters to create new accounts and return. It also cuts down the pool of accounts used for cheating and helps reduce account fraud.
Game ownership and SMS 2FA requirements are evaluated separately for each linked platform account. For example, if you own Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 on Battle.net but play Call of Duty: Warzone on Steam, SMS 2FA will only be required when accessing Warzone through your Steam account.
Once registered, you may be asked to verify your identity again in the future.
For more information, visit our Two-Factor Authentication support page.
New In-Game Attestation Messaging
RICOCHET Anti-Cheat relies on industry-leading remote, cloud-based attestation through Microsoft Azure to verify your security settings through trusted external servers. This makes it harder for a cheater to send us false information about their system.
In Season 03, we’ll roll out updated in-game notifications to players who do not meet Call of Duty’s TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot requirements, prompting them to resolve any issues so they can continue playing without interruption.
These notifications build on our existing updates and explain that failing attestation will limit access to playlists in the future.
Our Secure Attestation Wizard provides a quick way to check that your PC meets these requirements and offers guidance if anything needs adjustment.
Read more about the Secure Attestation Wizard here.
Evolving Detections for Unapproved Input Modification Devices
Unapproved input modification devices, such as Cronus Zen and XIM Matrix, remain a key focus as we continue to detect, disrupt, and enforce against their use.
These devices manipulate player inputs in ways that go beyond normal human abilities. The result is gameplay that feels unnatural, undermines fair play and leaves players wondering whether they lost to a skilled competitor or to a cheater.
Our detections focus on how inputs behave during gameplay, not just which device is plugged in. This allows us to identify patterns that fall outside expected human play, even as device setups change.
While some of these devices are marketed with accessibility claims, we are focused on how they are used in practice to create unfair gameplay advantages in violation of our Security and Enforcement Policy
With Season 03, we are expanding our detection systems that target these tools. This builds on earlier updates and continues our work to identify and disrupt unauthorized modified input across Call of Duty.
#TeamRICOCHET will continue adapting these detections to keep your matches fair.
Follow @CODUpdates and @CallofDutyCM on X for real-time updates, information from upcoming Progress Reports, and more. You can also find us on Reddit as u/RICOCHETcm.
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