The arrival of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 on Xbox Game Pass should have given a massive boost to the game’s multiplayer community, but some say the experience has been ruined.
A dramatic increase in cheating players has been reported by multiple outlets, including Call of Duty specialist CharlieIntel.
Players are using hacks to gain an advantage in the game, such as aimbots and wall hacks. The first gives a player superhuman aiming abilities, while a wall hack lets you see through walls to gauge where other players are.
Such performance-enhancing cheats have been around for decades, but Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was particularly affected over the weekend.
These hacks are typically used by PC players, but those playing on PC via Xbox Game Pass are identified as Xbox players in multiplayer lobbies.
The official Call of Duty Updates channel on X issued a statement, acknowledging the issue and claiming a patch has been issued.
“Ricochet Anti-Cheat resolved an issue with a detection system over the weekend, which resulted in a spike in cheater reports,” it wrote.
The anti-cheat system is now “able to detect the specific platform for all users, despite how they may appear in-game”, according to the update.
Players do not appear to agree the issue has been fixed, though.
“Not fixed. Platinum lobbies full of people using aimbot and walls. It’s practically unplayable unless you are using cheats,” user MadFlava76 wrote on the CODWarzone subreddit.
The Call of Duty team urges players to report suspected cheaters, which in itself suggests the Ricochet Anti-Cheat system isn’t entirely effective at weeding out those using hacks and exploits.
Ricochet is a system designed specifically for the Call of Duty games and was introduced in 2021 to combat cheaters in Call of Duty: Vanguard and the Warzone multiplayer component.
It has been subject to regular criticism, and in a 2023 response to cheaters in Modern Warfare II, Team Ricochet described its efforts as “constantly fighting an ongoing cat-and-mouse game” against those who refuse to play as intended.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was added to Xbox Game Pass, for both its PC and console catalogues, on July 24. According to True Achievement’s gameplay chart, it’s the most-played title on Xbox at present, having sat behind Minecraft and Fortnite the week prior.
