Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer launch is close, and people are worried about cheaters

Call of Duty multiplayer and Warzone have had their ups and downs when it comes to cheating, and it's looking like Modern Warfare 3 will not escape that cycle. After players reported running into cheaters in the recent beta, many are now concerned multiplayer's imminent launch will be riddled with cheaters.

According to Anti-Cheat Police Department, a Twitter account that attempts to infiltrate cheat makers' websites and communities, report suspicious behaviour, and track the goings-on in the cheating world, a certain cheat vendor was offering Modern Warfare 3 cheats for free during the beta.

Presumably, as a way of getting customers ahead of the full game's release.

Cheating problems have historically been associated with the PC side of things, given how open the platform is compared to consoles. But even setting aside modified devices that have built in aids (some that Microsoft is trying to shut down), cheat makers have proven that they can provide a similar experience to their paying customers on consoles, too.

Here's one cheater, which someone ran into during the PlayStation-exclusive portion of the recent MW3 beta.

Laser, one of the people behind Anti-Cheat Police Department, told IGN that cheat makers are already working on porting their MW2 cheats to MW3. Because the games are very similar, to the point that the new game acts as an expansion to last year's Call of Duty in many ways.

That's what effectively gives cheat providers a head-start on creating cheats that will work with Modern Warfare 3. There's also an element of ease of access when it comes to Call of Duty cheats compared to other, more competitive games.

"Finding legitimate providers is usually just a Google search and a couple clicks away," he said. "It just doesn't take a lot of effort to find a cheat that won't get you instantly banned."

Call of Duty games have in recent years, of course, been relying on Ricochet anti-cheat, a proprietary tool that's had a lot of success in the past, and evolved over time to torment cheaters rather than immediately banning them in order to get more data on their cheats.

But as Laser explained, there's only so much a server-side anti-cheat tech Like Ricochet can do. The more effective anti-cheat software is sadly intrusive, and requires Kernel-level access in order to monitor the player's entire PC. Valorant developer Riot, of course, is a big proponent of that style of anti-cheat.

As unpopular as it is, some frustrated Call of Duty players actually want that form of intrusive tech to come to the shooter series. That said, it's clear even something as strong as Riot Vanguard hasn't stopped cheating entirely in Valorant.

As anyone in the know will tell you, the battle against cheating never ends. Modern Warfare 3 is already struggling to impress with its campaign and Zombies, so it's going to be a bit of a disaster if cheating ruins multiplayer, too.

Modern Warfare 3 launches this Friday, November 10.