Call of Duty Maker Activision Says the Video Game Cheat Market Generates $8.5 Billion a Year

Ahead of the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, Activision has highlighted the "multi-billion-dollar" video game cheats market. Cheating is common in online games, but it's particularly prevalent in Call of Duty, which runs the free-to-download Warzone battle royale. Activision, like other game developers, struggles against cheaters and those profiting from them, and generative AI has complicated this fight.

Team Ricochet, Activision's anti-cheat team, released a blog detailing the business of video game cheating. Cheat sellers have created a vast, multi-billion-dollar marketplace of resellers, subscription services, reskins, illicit accounts, spoofing tools, and global distribution networks. Recent analysis suggests cheat subscriptions from just 15 games generate around $3.5 billion annually.

When including associated industries like account sales, boosting, spoofing, and other services, the cheating economy's total value is estimated at $8.5 billion per year. Activision has taken legal action against cheat makers, disrupted over 375 reseller operations, issued more than 80 cease-and-desist demands, and shut down 31 primary cheat vendors.

They also noted that cheaters can spend over $1,000 annually to maintain access to cheats, with subscription services costing up to $100 and spoofers adding extra recurring fees. Despite these efforts, some players still spend hundreds, if not thousands, trying to cheat. Activision believes cheating will not be entirely eradicated from Call of Duty but hopes Modern Warfare 4 will see a decrease in cheating compared to previous years.