Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is now live worldwide, and the first follow-up Activision sent out after launch wasn't about a map or a mode. It was about cheaters who plug in extra hardware.

The Call of Duty team says it rolled out new RICOCHET Anti-Cheat detections aimed at DMA cheats ahead of DMZ Early Access, earlier in launch week. It's the latest step in a pre-launch anti-cheat push that already went after Cronus-style devices and added server-side culling to blunt wallhacks.

Why DMA cheats are harder to catch

DMA stands for Direct Memory Access. According to Call of Duty's own explanation, these cheats use external hardware to read game information a player should never see, including where opponents are on the map. Because that hardware runs outside the PC that's actually running Call of Duty, it's designed to slip past traditional software-based protections.

Think of it as reading someone's cards by looking over the table from another room, rather than tampering with the deck. Anti-cheat that only watches the game's own process has nothing to inspect. Activision hasn't explained how the new detections work, which is normal for anti-cheat, so there's no way yet to judge how well they hold up once the game has been out for a few weeks.

What's in the box at launch

The launch itself covers three pillars. The Campaign puts Price on the run as conflict erupts on the Korean Peninsula, with a catastrophic weapon close to falling into the wrong hands.

Multiplayer ships with 20 maps:

  • 12 new 6v6 maps
  • 4 Gunfight maps
  • 3 Ground War maps
  • Kill Block, the modular training facility

DMZ, the extraction mode, drops players into Hajin as an off-the-books asset deciding which objectives to chase, what to secure and when to get out.

Vault Edition perks wait on Season 1

The Vault Edition bundles the game with the Hunter Killer Operator skin, the Hostile Alliance pack (Price, Valeria, Ghost and Blix), a Special Forces pack with operators from the United Kingdom, Germany, France and South Korea voiced in their local languages, five Signature weapon blueprints, one season of BlackCell and a DMZ Deployment Bonus.

One catch sits in Activision's fine print. BlackCell, the Battle Pass, Call of Duty Points and tier skips only become accessible once the Season 1 Battle Pass is available in-game. Standard Edition owners can still upgrade to the Vault Edition later, as long as they do it on the same platform they bought on.

Activision also launched the Call of Duty Endowment (C.O.D.E.) Valor Pack, built with U.S. Marine Corps veteran and Medal of Honor recipient Kyle Carpenter. It includes an operator, a skin, three weapon blueprints, a charm and several cosmetics. Activision says 100 percent of its net proceeds go to the Endowment, which helps U.S. and U.K. veterans find jobs. The pack is in Multiplayer and DMZ now and reaches Warzone with Season 1.

Players who linked Discord during the beta will need to link it again for MW4. Those who do keep their bonus Calling Card and also get an hour each of Double XP and Double Weapon XP.