This puts the franchise in first place among multiplayer games. For veterans of the series, such statistics are not surprising, as the problem of cheaters in Call of Duty has existed almost since the beginning of the series' online history.
Rocket League took second place. Rainbow Six Siege (53 requests) and Marvel Rivals (45) are also among the leaders.
The study shows a noticeable difference between communities of different genres. While Call of Duty faces massive interest in cheats, the League of Legends audience shows one of the lowest rates – just 0.3 requests per 1,000 players. VALORANT, Dota 2 and Counter-Strike have similar results. Popular battle royales are in the middle of the list: PUBG (39), Apex Legends (25) and Fortnite (20).
Experts warn that using cheats is dangerous not only from the point of view of fair play. According to Surfshark representative Thomas Stamulis, such programs often require high system rights or disabling antivirus software, which opens the way for malware, such as remote access Trojans and data theft tools.
Activision urged not to jump to conclusions. A company representative noted that the report reflects only search trends, and not the real number of cheaters on servers. According to the publisher, "sensational headlines" do not solve the problem as effectively as protection systems and complaints from the players themselves.
