mods that allow them to ruin the experience for everyone.
Losing in a video game can be frustrating, especially if you're having a bad day or on a massive losing streak. Players are sometimes willing to do anything to beat their opponents, with no regard for fairness. Some players cheat to laugh at the suffering and rage of their opponents, while some do it to genuinely feel good about their "skill". This is not the first game Call of Duty has seen a hacker problem as well, with Activision taking action against a cheat site for COD: Warzone.
Despite its recent release, hackers have already found their way into Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War as stated by Eurogamer. Players would record these cheaters and post them on social media like Reddit and Twitter, gathering the attention of thousands. The hacks would typically involve aimbotting, which grants the player perfect aim, and wall hacks, which grants the player the ability to see enemies through walls. There are usually ways for games to deal with hackers, usually through anti-cheat, but with Call of Duty: Warzone's active cheating problem still running rampant, it's likely Activision has not put the time to implement a better anti-cheat.
It can be difficult to develop anti-cheats for shooter games since it's hard to tell using code whether a player is really good or just hacking. Wallhacks, which are purely information-based, are nearly impossible to detect since there are many factors that could explain why a player knew an enemy's position. Aimbotting can be detected, but many cheats have learned to make it toggleable, allowing the to turn it on and off at will. This can make a majority of the game seem like normal gameplay, with the occasional inhumane flicks. Valorant addresses the problem as a tactical shooter by using a rootkit, which does leave players suspicious regarding its privacy. Even then, Riot is so confident in its ability to detect hackers, that they even put a bounty for anyone who can find exploits with it.
Activision needs to take further action beyond taking down sites and actually develop their anti-cheat into something more consistent and secure. It doesn't even have to be something made by themselves. Fall Guys utilized Fortnite's anti-cheat to combat their hacker problem. Since the game is only in beta, there is time for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War to make a massive overhaul to deal with hacks, but in the end, it is impossible to stop cheaters forever.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will be available for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC on November 13, 2020.
Source: Eurogamer
