Call of Duty cheat supplier, Phantom Overlay, is reportedly shutting down.
In an announcement posted to Telegram, the cheat supplier declined to touch upon why it was closing down “instantly,” including: “This isn’t an exit rip-off and no exterior entity may ever compel me to exit rip-off my prospects. I will hold every part up to date, protected, and on-line for 32 days longer.”
The explanation Phantom Overlay is dedicated to staying on-line for 32 days is to make sure folks with a 30-day key “get their full cash’s value.” The cheat creator additionally stated they might partially refund lifetime keys, too.
Crucially, many different cheat suppliers piggyback off Phantom Overlay’s programs, so this shock closure may have a broader impression on the dishonest ecosystem.
“I am unable to consider it!!” commented one gamer on X, previously often called Twitter (thanks, Dexerto). “Does this imply the Season 3 cheat replace is basically gonna work?!”
Different commenters have been much less satisfied, with one stating: “They’re simply rebranding. They’ve the identical supplier underneath a number of names/manufacturers. The cheaters will not cease.”
Activision just lately admitted its Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 anti-cheat efforts “didn’t hit the mark” on the Launch of Season 1, significantly for Ranked Play after initially pledging to kick cheaters out of the sport inside one hour of them being of their first match.
It did, nevertheless, guarantee gamers it now routinely bans cheaters resulting from elevated “velocity” from a number of Ricochet Anti-Cheat programs, along with the over 19,000 accounts it just lately eliminated.
The obvious prevalence of cheaters is taken into account by some to be ruining aggressive multiplayer, and Activision had come underneath hearth for failing to deal with the issue. Issues acquired so dangerous that final month, with the discharge of Season 2, Activision let console Ranked gamers disable crossplay with PC gamers.
Dishonest just isn’t distinctive to Call of Duty, of course, but it has turn out to be extra problematic for Activision ever because it launched free-to-download battle royale Warzone in 2020. But regardless of investing hundreds of thousands of {dollars} growing its anti-cheat know-how — in addition to pursuing cheat makers within the courts, with a quantity of latest high-profile successes — followers stay sceptical of the Ricochet system.
In associated information, earlier at this time, we reported it seems to be like we’ll lastly discover out extra in regards to the return of Call of Duty Warzone‘s much-loved Verdansk map on March 10.
Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and advisor. She’s additionally a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually Excessive Chaos. Discover her at BlueSky.