A $ 250,000 Call of Duty: Warzone tournament was rocked last night on hacking charges, leading to calls for better in-game anti-cheat.
The trio squad tournament, which starred some of the biggest names in the war zone, exploded in the penultimate game on the last day of the event after several high-profile participants accused a Canadian player named Metzy of using an aimbot, with a particular clip raising the eyebrows.
The clip shows Metzy’s reticle change quickly to a player jumping out of a window. Metzy plays Warzone on the PC using a controller.
– Kross (@Kross) January 22, 2021
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Thomas “Tommey” Trewren, a professional war zone player on the sports team 100 Thieves, was one of the prominent participants in the tournament who accused Metzy of cheating, going through a series of clips during a live broadcast.
? Today’s 0K Twitch Rivals Warzone event was raided on charges of cheating.
The tournament is paralyzed before the final map, as players request a restart due to alleged cheaters in the private lobby. pic.twitter.com/XIm2GUpJKh
– Call of Duty DEXERTO (@DexertoIntel) January 22, 2021
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The broadcast was halted for about an hour while tournament officials investigated the backstage. During his broadcast, Metzy read aloud a message received from a Twitch representative, who “determined that the gameplay was unnatural beyond any reasonable doubt”. Jump to the four hour and 11 minute mark on the VOD below:
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With the ban in place, Twitch then issued a tweet saying he considered Metzy a cheater, and kicked him and his team out of the event.
“We take the conduct of the Twitch Rivals player very seriously. We will continue to investigate any allegations of cheating,” said Twitch.
During Twitch Rivals: Doritos Bowl and Call of Duty Warzone Final, Metzy_B was considered a cheater. As a result, his team was removed from the event.
We take the conduct of the Twitch Rivals player extremely seriously. We will continue to investigate any allegations of cheating.
– Twitch Rivals (@TwitchRivals) January 22, 2021
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The tournament’s fifth and final map was played with one less team.
Metzy subsequently denied any wrongdoing. “I’m not using an aimbot,” he said in a broadcast. Later, Metzy tried to clear his name by displaying his task manager, his recent downloads and his Google search history. Later, Tommey joined Metzy on-stream, searching his computer live in an attempt to find evidence of hacks. At a remarkable moment during the broadcast, Metzy granted remote access from his PC to a stranger who searched his hard drive and downloaded files for closer inspection.
Today, Tommey apologized for his initial accusation, apparently signaling that Metzy did not cheat. “I’m going to raise my hands and admit we were wrong,” said Tommey in a tweet. “I’m sorry to disappoint many of you. I don’t know what else to say, but I accept and deserve everything that comes from that.”
I fully understand the hatred that I am receiving and that is deserved. There just wasn’t enough to pass to give my opinion on @METZY_BFrom the things I saw, I believed something was wrong, but there just wasn’t enough to go that far and have everyone say that he cheated.
– Tommey (@Tommey) January 22, 2021
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I will raise my hands and admit that we were wrong. I’m sorry to disappoint many of you. I don’t know what else to say, but I accept and deserve all that comes from it.
– Tommey (@Tommey) January 22, 2021
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Tommey has now offered Metzy his tournament winnings as a sign of goodwill.
I didn’t kick him out of the tournament, I didn’t report him or do anything like that. After he was reported, I posted a clip of my chat. He is more than welcome to receive my earnings from this.
– Tommey (@Tommey) January 22, 2021
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Tommy’s setback questions not only Twitch’s decision to disqualify Metzy and his team from the Warzone tournament, but also his process for handling allegations of cheating. And then there’s the potential negative impact on Metzy’s competitive gaming career.
True or false, the accusations have raised a longstanding issue that has plagued Warzone since its launch in 2020: that the game is full of hackers.
Activision was criticized for its lack of communication on the issue of cheating in the war zone, and the anti-cheating that the game considered ineffective.
NickZers of FaZe, who has 1.7 million followers on Twitter, said that without an effective anti-cheat, “authentic Warzone tournaments are simply no longer possible”.
Unfortunately, without anti-cheat, authentic Warzone tournaments are no longer possible. Have we learned a lot from these gauntlets and what have I said? y? all .. There is a lot of cheese and a lot of mice. Bob & weave baby.
– FaZe Nickmercs (@NICKMERCS) January 22, 2021
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Prominent Call of Duty YouTuber Drift0r said “Cheating in the war zone is completely out of control”.
Cheating in the war zone is completely out of control. There were people cheating on Twitch Rivals today. 2 of the 5 games I played tonight had cheaters.
I want to make content for this mode, but it’s hard to win games when the final round is always aimbot hackers.
– Drift0r (@ Drift0r) January 22, 2021
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The Call of Duty community is now calling on Activision to provide an update on its Warzone anti-cheat efforts. In September 2020, Vice’s Motherboard reported that Activision had banned some 20,000 cheaters, including a streamer and college football player, from Call of Duty: Warzone for allegedly wearing a popular cheat.
A former Activision employee told Motherboard that these waves of bans are relatively frequent. “It is rare for a particular cheat to last very long without being detected at some point,” they said. “It is always a game of cat and mouse, people who actively use tricks must understand that it is highly likely that you will be banned at some point and only have yourself to blame.”