Before the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, Activision spoke about the scale of the cheat industry and stated that a full-fledged multi-billion dollar market has formed around unfair play. According to Team Ricochet, subscriptions to cheats for 15 popular games alone bring their creators about $3.5 billion a year.
If you take into account related services — account sales, boosting, spoofing, and other anti-protection bypass tools — Activision estimates the total volume of the so-called cheating economy at approximately $8.5 billion annually. The company notes that the market includes resellers, subscription services, resale and rebranding of cheats, as well as entire networks for their distribution.
Activision simultaneously continues to fight against providers of prohibited software using legal and technical methods. According to Team Ricochet, the company has managed to disrupt more than 375 reseller operations, send over 80 cease and desist letters, and help shut down 31 major cheat providers.
Activision also said that cheat developers actively use social media to maintain the appearance of stability of their services even after they are detected by Ricochet systems. As explanations for prolonged downtimes, they may refer to illnesses, surgeries, or car accidents, although the real reason, according to Activision, is often the detection and blocking of their programs.
The fight against cheats is gradually making cheating itself more expensive. Activision notes that some subscriptions to advanced cheats cost more than $100, and additional costs arise from spoofers, new accounts, and specialized equipment. As a result, individual players can spend more than $1000 per year trying to maintain access to cheats and bypass protection.