Activision follows through on efforts to combat cheating in Call of Duty by sending cease and desists to prominent cheat providers

It just got a little harder to cheat in Call of Duty after two prominent providers of cheating software shuttered under the weight of legal threats from Activision.

Professional Warzone player @Swishem first shared word on Twitter that two cheat providers, Two2nd and Tomware, had both shut down this week. The social media post included a screenshot from what appears to be the Tomware Discord server that states, "We would like to inform you that all Call of Duty products have been permanently discontinued and will not be returning."

The post from the Tomware discord further laid out potential disciplinary action plans for its community, including timeouts and permanent bans, for members who so much as mention the cease and desist letter that the cheat provider received. References to the legal representatives who sent the Cease and Desist would also result in a permanent ban from the cheat provider's Discord server.

Tomware's team also went on to thank Activision, and its legal representatives, for their professionalism. Call of Duty cheats have been removed from the Tomware website, but the site remains live, with cheats for other games like Valorant and Fortnite available for purchase.

Two2nd seems to have fared worse, with the entire website having been replaced with a white screen and a red "Permanently Closed" stamp. Previously the site offered boosting and spoofers for an array of Call of Duty titles, as well as Elden Ring, Fortnite, Helldivers 2, and even Starfield.

Combating cheats in Call of Duty has always been an uphill battle. But Team RICOCHET, the Call of Duty development team responsible for the game's proprietary anti-cheat software, has had a particularly rough time since the launch of Black Ops 6 Season. 1. Previously, the team acknowledged that a data outage had rendered the anti-cheat ineffective, and the decision was ultimately made to allow console players to separate themselves from PC players in Ranked game modes.

While new cheat mitigation tactics went into effect with Black Ops 6 Season 2, Activision's best defense against cheat manufacturers has been and continues to be within the legal system. The Microsoft-owned publisher was awarded more than $14 million in damages in 2024 following a lawsuit against cheat developer EngineOwning.

In the lead-up to Season 2, the Call of Duty team and its publisher reiterated that it would continue to use every tool at its disposal to combat game disruptions from cheaters, including the use of legal force. It is likely that additional cease and desist letters could show up for other cheat providers as the team continues efforts to clean up Black Ops 6 and Warzone.

Team RICOCHET has also reported large-scale ban waves that have hit tens of thousands of players in recent months. Most recently, the team issued a ban wave for players who were taking advantage of an in-game exploit that resulted in 'server crashes' in Warzone.

The team faces special challenges when it comes to discussing cheat mitigation tactics, as releasing too much detail can provide cheat developers the tools to circumvent detection and mitigation. However, releasing too little information leads to concerns among players that anti-cheat is ineffective or targeting players who are simply good at the game with unjust shadowbans.