Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 will have its first open beta on October 2 for early-access players, before letting everyone else in on October 5. Cheating has been an ongoing issue with the franchise, up to and including last year’s Black Ops 6. To combat this trend, Activision has unveiled the latest upgrades to its anti-cheat measures ahead of the Black Ops 7 open beta.
According to Activision, in-game detection measures have been enhanced by training “advanced machine learning systems on millions of hours of gameplay.” The publisher is also stepping up its legal measures to dismantle attempts to monetize cheats outside of the game.
The primary tools being used to combat cheaters are the Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 requirements for Black Ops 7 on PC. Those measures will be implemented alongside the newest incarnation of the Ricochet anti-cheat software to prevent cheaters from sidestepping or fooling them. Activision notes that it will also be removing cheaters in real time as they are detected.
Even these upgrades may not fully eliminate cheating from the Call of Duty franchise, but part of the goal behind this beta is to test these measures under live conditions. Everything learned during this trial period can be used to make these systems even more effective when Black Ops 7 launches.
Activision will conclude the open beta on Wednesday, October 8, at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Black Ops 7 will officially launch on November 14 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
