Fans of Call of Duty, PUBG, and other shooters on PC are getting banned after updating their OS to Windows 11. Microsoft's new operating system is being detected as a cheat in games like Call of Duty, resulting in the anti-hack system, BattlEye, kicking players from games with vague error messages.
Activision already has a noteworthy history with Call of Duty players being randomly banned, some of whom never actually get unbanned. Although it's relatively easy to make a new account and start over, as the game is not IP-based, it can still delete hours of progression and skins paid for through in-game microtransactions. It seems as though this latest round of bans is not the fault of Activision, however, as it's impacting multiple games.
Players on Reddit (via IGN) are reporting that they're experiencing issues in shooters like Call of Duty and PUBG after joining the Windows 11 insider program, which grants early access to the OS update. That said, there are conflicting reports suggesting that the bans for Call of Duty may be due to other reasons, something Warzone players are used to. The team from PUBG Corp. did confirm that it had fixed this issue for its game, but users may still want to be wary of trying online games while using the Windows 11 update prior to its official release.
It's unclear if there's anything Microsoft can do to fix this issue or if it's something that will have to be adjusted on the side of the anti-cheat software, but it's still something players will want to be vigilant of. It's highly likely that this will be ironed out by the time Windows 11 has been fully released to the public, but it might result in a case-by-case issue on online games for the time being. Very few online services are free of issues right out the gate, so problems like this aren't too surprising.
Windows 11 certainly caters to gamers, as it features built-in Xbox capabilities, auto-HDR, and other features that have been seen in Xbox consoles. With such a heavy focus on gaming, Microsoft will want to be quick to nip this potential flaw in the bud and openly communicate its progress before fans get hesitant about upgrading to the new OS system. With publishers having little tolerance for cheaters, it's not surprising to see Call of Duty and PUBG players being banned quite liberally. At the very least, the creators seem to be aware of the issue, as the team at PUBG Corp. managed to quickly fix this issues for its own players without any real headaches.