Overview
- This week Activision published a Team RICOCHET blog that estimates the broader cheating economy at about £6.3 billion ($8.5 billion) a year and disclosed enforcement totals it says back that figure.
- Activision says it has disrupted more than 375 reseller operations, issued over 80 cease-and-desist orders and helped shut down 31 primary cheat vendors, and it highlighted a filmed visit to an Ohio seller, Elocarry, as a recent example.
- The company cites a February Intorqa analysis that estimated cheat subscriptions across 15 games generate roughly $3.5 billion a year and expands that number to include account sales, boosting and spoofing to reach the larger total.
- RICOCHET combines technical measures, including a kernel-level driver deployed during Modern Warfare 4’s closed beta to detect cheats at the system level, with legal action aimed at sellers and resellers to make cheating harder to sustain.
- Activision says cheat subscriptions typically cost $40–$100 per month and that paying for spoofing and replacement accounts can push some players’ spending above $1,000 a year, a recurring-revenue model the company says it is targeting before the October 23 release.