Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War already has cheaters ahead of release

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War isn’t even out yet and it already has a cheating problem.

The Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War beta kicked off earlier this month, allowing players to get an early preview of the upcoming game. Recently, the beta phase opened up to gamers across all platforms, whether they’ve pre-ordered it or not.

Unfortunately, it’s also invited a wave of cheaters. Beta players have been posting footage of cheating players all across social media. Twitch streamer Tempid tweeted this example.

“Welp, time to cancel my preorder,” A Twitter user said in reply. “Not going through another year of this b*******.”

On Reddit, user 1mp3n posted footage of a cheater in his lobby shredding everybody with a blatantly obvious aimbot. 1mp3n also said the cheater’s name appears to be an advertisement for a place to get hacks.

Cheaters are a ubiquitous problem in any free or low cost game because the consequences are non-existent. If a malicious player gets their account banned for cheating, all they have to do is sign up again under a new email and they can get right back to playing.

20,000 players were banned from Call of Duty: Warzone in September for cheating, but the game is still fighting an ongoing war with repeat offenders. The Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War beta is now struggling with the same problem because it’s currently free for all platforms.

Once the beta ends and the game officially launches on Nov. 13, the $60 price tag will likely dissuade many cheaters but many fans feel the damage has already been done. One Redditor in the thread pointed out that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (which costs $60) is still plagued with cheaters in multiplayer.

“Anticheat is non-existent,” the Redditor said. “I know of people who have been using cheats on Modern Warfare since launch and haven’t been banned yet. That’s almost a year of blatant cheating.”

Cheating has become a daunting problem for game developers because of how quickly modern cheating software can be disseminated through both open and clandestine channels, with the finest cheats being paid black market products that are constantly updated to escape detection.

Activision is in an unenviable position and it remains to be seen if the company can get a hold of the problem plaguing one of gaming’s most venerated franchises.

If you enjoyed this story, check out In The Know’s article on Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s upcoming multiplayer features.

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