Activision responds to CronusMAX concerns with new Warzone RICOCHET anti-cheat

Liam Mackay
Player using sledgehammer on Warzone Rebirth Island

Activision has announced their new RICOCHET anti-cheat for Warzone and Vanguard and has responded to some concerns about CronusMAX users on consoles and PC.

Activision has long been at war with cheaters plaguing Call of Duty: Warzone, with the devs banning at least 800,000 Warzone accounts. In response, they officially announced RICOCHET, an in-house anti-cheat built specifically to combat Warzone cheaters.

However, not every cheater uses software to artificially get ahead in the game. Some use controller hardware, specifically the CronusMAX, that players can mod to have rapid-fire, no recoil, and more.

In a Q&A with content creators – like JackFrags – recently about RICOCHET Anti-Cheat, Activision responded to concerns over modded controllers making it through the anti-cheat’s detection capabilities.

Warzone and Vanguard ricochet anti-cheat

Although almost all Warzone cheating is through PC and software, there’s also a cheating problem on consoles. While perhaps not as obvious as those with aimbot and wallhacks, some third-party controllers allow players to use a variety of game-breaking mods.

In the RICOCHET Q&A, devs were asked “What about Cronus and XIM devices on console?” They explained that “Server-side technology that utilizes machine learning paves the way for such devices and scripts to be detected.”

So, it appears that their machine learning might be able to detect the unnatural inputs from a Cronus and ban that user. However, they didn’t guarantee that machine learning will effectively combat Cronuses, just that it “paves the way” to detect them.

Also, according to the same Q&A between renowned JackFrags and Activision, the company mentioned that have attempted to work with Sony and Microsoft to prevent the devices from being used on their consoles. However, it’s been reported that Activision is having little success.

CronusMAX’s and other modded controllers are only a small part of the issue, so if everything goes according to plan, then the new Warzone Pacific map should be almost completely free of cheaters.


For more Warzone, you can check out how to watch Warzone’s The Last Dance in Verdansk tournament.

Image Credit: Activision

About The Author

Liam is CharlieIntel's Editor who focuses on Call of Duty but also plays lots of fantasy RPGs or anything else in his massive gaming backlog. After graduating in Journalism from Edinburgh Napier University, Liam freelanced in games journalism before joining CharlieIntel in November 2020. You can contact Liam at [email protected].