Call of Duty has acknowledged Shadowbans in Warzone and Black Ops 6 for the first time, and here's what you need to know

Call of Duty has finally opened up about the Shadowbans in Warzone and Black Ops 6. Players have long been complaining about getting Shadowbanned without valid reasons and many were frustrated as their matchmaking abilities were limited. However, Call of Duty has never been upfront about it. The issue had always been shrouded in mystery, leading to endless speculations.

Fortunately, the developers have finally decided to unveil everything behind these Shadowbans in a bid to be more transparent. In the recent blog post titled RICOCHET Anti-Cheat Update – Season 03, the developers discussed numerous new updates that are coming to their anti-cheat system in Season 3, and therein, it dedicated an entire section concerning Shadowbans in Warzone and Black Ops 6.

To learn more about these bans as discussed in the official Call of Duty blog, make sure to read below.

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How do Shadowbans in Warzone and Black Ops 6 work?

Call of Duty has defined Shadowbans in Warzone and Black Ops 6 as LMM or Limited Matchmaking. It means that players who were found to be suspicious in these titles, wouldn't be banned outright. Instead, they are matched against players who are in a similar scenario, thus limiting their matchmaking pool.

This is done to ensure that their systems get enough time to screen a player's activity and determine if they were cheating or not. They have also stated that if a player is Shadowbanned and happens to form a party with others who are not, the entire party will be part of the Limited Matchmaking lobbies.

Since the system is uncertain at first, they are simply put in a Limited Matchmaking lobby or issued a Shadowban to prevent further damage in case they happen to be cheating for real. If they are innocent the limited matchmaking restrictions are then removed. However, if they are guilty, the system issues them a permanent ban.

So how does the anti-cheat system determine if a user should be Shadowbanned? The first is simply reports. If a player has been reported by several accounts, they are likely to come under scrutiny. Second, if an account sees major changes all of a sudden, and finally, if a new account is dropping improbable stats. These are only a few of the ways that raise an alarm internally.

Finally, Call of Duty has also added some stats to show the number of players who have been issued Shadowbans in Warzone and Black Ops 6. As per the report, so far only 0.15% of the entire player population faces Limited Matchmaking. But it can also increase momentarily if a Shadowbanned player joins a party as doing so will also include other party members in the LMM lobbies.

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That covers everything that you need to know about the Shadowbans in Warzone and Black Ops 6.

For the latest Call of Duty news and guides, check out the articles below:

• Call of Duty gives major update on Anti-cheat, 228,000 accounts got banned since the Black Ops 6 launch
• Area 99 Nuke Testing Easter Egg has been completed in Warzone, here's how to do it
• Warzone and Black Ops 6 Season 3 pre-load details: Everything you need to know
• Call of Duty will now ban players for using unlocking tools in Warzone and Black Ops 6
• Black Ops 6 Ranked Play to get some much-needed changes in Season 3, here is what you should know