Activision Reports Video Game Cheating Market Worth $8.5 Billion Annually

With Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 on the horizon, Activision has shed light on the "multi-billion-dollar market" that fuels video game cheating.

Cheating plagues nearly every online game, but Call of Duty, especially its free-to-play battle royale Warzone, has become notorious for it. Like other publishers, Activision is locked in a constant struggle against cheaters and the individuals who create and profit from cheats. The rise of generative AI has only made this fight more complicated.

To emphasize the scale of the issue, Activision's Team Ricochet published a blog post detailing the business behind cheating. "Cheat sellers have built a sprawling, multi-billion-dollar marketplace of resellers, subscription services, cheat reskins, illicit accounts, spoofing tools, and organized distribution networks," the company stated. According to recent analysis, cheat subscriptions for just 15 games generate around $3.5 billion annually. When factoring in related services like account sales, boosting, and spoofing, Activision estimates the broader cheating economy rakes in approximately $8.5 billion each year.

You may have seen Activision sharing bodycam footage of a Call of Duty cheat maker receiving a cease and desist order—part of the company's legal efforts. But Activision is also employing "technical detection" to crack down on cheat creators.

RICOCHET Anti-Cheat doesn't end when your match does. Cheat makers operate around the world. So do we. We’re taking the fight directly to cheat sellers. Last weekend during the Closed Beta, we went to Ohio to takedown Elocarry. That’s not an isolated case... pic.twitter.com/IP69qlGgDD

Activision says it has "disrupted" over 375 reseller operations, issued more than 80 cease-and-desist demands, and helped shut down 31 major cheat vendors. "Cheat sellers often use marketing tactics and social posts to make their operations look stable, even when they are under significant pressure," Activision explained. "We’ve seen cheat developers use social platforms to explain months of downtime with excuses like ‘the flu,’ ‘surgery,’ or a ‘car accident’ rather than acknowledge their products were detected and no longer reliable. Those messages are part of the playbook they use to reassure customers while our systems continue disrupting their networks."

Activision also noted that cheating is becoming more expensive due to the pressure it's applying. Nevertheless, some of the figures are staggering. Cheaters might spend over $1,000 a year just to cheat, with high-end subscription cheats costing upwards of $100 and spoofers adding another recurring fee. DMA-related hardware and services further drive up the cost.

"Over the course of one year, some players spend hundreds of dollars — if not thousands — trying to maintain access to cheats, evasion tools, and replacement accounts," Activision said. "Ultimately, cheating is a losing investment. Every time we identify and remove a bad actor, the money they spent cheating goes with them — all for a temporary ego boost."

As always, the proof is in the pudding. Most accept that Activision will never completely eliminate cheating from Call of Duty, but the hope is that it will be less prevalent in Modern Warfare 4 than in previous years.

Earlier this month, IGN interviewed David Andrews, Senior Director of Game Security for Call of Duty, to debunk some myths about cheating in Call of Duty and the work Activision does to prevent it.

Modern Warfare 4 launches October 22.