Cheat Developer Claims Shutdown, Call of Duty Players Doubtful

The well-known Call of Duty cheat provider, Phantom Overlay, has announced its imminent shutdown. In a Telegram statement, the provider emphasized that this is not an "exit scam," and no external pressure forced this decision. They committed to keeping their systems online for an additional 32 days to ensure users with 30-day keys can fully utilize their purchases. Additionally, the provider promised partial refunds for lifetime key holders.

Phantom Overlay's closure may have ripple effects throughout the cheating ecosystem, as many other cheat providers rely on its systems. This sudden move has sparked varied reactions among gamers. One excited player on X, formerly known as Twitter, exclaimed, "I can't believe it!! Does this mean the Season 3 cheat update is really gonna work?!" However, skepticism persists, with some suggesting that Phantom Overlay might simply be rebranding, as one user pointed out, "They're just rebranding. They have the same provider under multiple names/brands. The cheaters won't stop."

Activision recently acknowledged that its Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 anti-cheat efforts "did not hit the mark" at the launch of Season 1, particularly in Ranked Play. Initially, they had promised to remove cheaters from the game within an hour of their first match, but this goal was not met. However, Activision reassured players that they are now banning cheaters more effectively, thanks to enhanced "velocity" from several Ricochet Anti-Cheat systems, and over 19,000 accounts were recently banned.

The ongoing issue of cheating has been seen by some as detrimental to competitive multiplayer in Call of Duty, leading to criticism of Activision's response. The situation escalated to the point where, with the launch of Season 2, console Ranked players were allowed to disable crossplay with PC players to mitigate cheating.

Cheating isn't exclusive to Call of Duty, but it has become a more significant challenge since the introduction of the free-to-play battle royale, Warzone, in 2020. Despite substantial investments in anti-cheat technology and legal actions against cheat developers, with a number of recent high-profile successes, skepticism about the effectiveness of the Ricochet system remains among fans.

In other news, it appears that more details about the much-anticipated return of the beloved Call of Duty Warzone Verdansk map will be revealed on March 10.