The shadow ban interview was only half of what Call of Duty's security director told IGN. In a second piece published September 10, David Andrews describes a separate enforcement track for scripted input devices, the Cronus class of hardware that sits between the controller and the console and turns aim assist into something closer to recoil automation. That track is deliberately softer at the start and harder at the end than the normal path.
Reported. This is an IGN interview with Call of Duty's senior director of game security, not a published Activision policy. The RICOCHET page on callofduty.com documents hardware bans and the anti-cheat stack but says nothing about a seven day first strike for scripted input devices. Treat the ladder as a credible description of how the team works, not as something you can cite in an appeal.
Why Hardcore SnD cares
Hardcore Search is where this hardware pays off most and shows up least. Time to kill is already short, so a device that flattens recoil does not produce highlight reel clips. It produces a player who simply never loses a first duel. That is close to impossible to call from a killcam, which is why the enforcement policy matters more here than any eye test.
- A first strike is a week, not a season. If the policy works the way he describes it, a flagged opponent can be back in matchmaking before your next scrim block is over.
- The second strike reaches the hardware. He says a repeat detection brings a permanent account suspension and possible console or PC consequences, which is the part that actually stops a fresh account.
- It is a separate track from the ladder we covered. Limited matchmaking, ranked play bans and remote play bans are the general tools. Scripted input devices get their own two step version.
- Aim assist is the attack surface. He describes these devices as taking advantage of aim assist rather than replacing aim, which lands in the middle of the argument the MW4 beta community has been having all month.
What is not confirmed
No Activision page states the seven day first strike. Andrews does not say how detection works, how quickly a second strike lands, what the hardware level consequences actually are, or whether the same policy carries into Modern Warfare 4 at launch. He also says the rehabilitation figures are something the team hopes to talk about later, which means the success claim is his word and not a published number.
What would verify it
A RICOCHET update post or an Activision Support article naming a temporary first strike for unauthorized input devices would move this to Official. A published enforcement report with scripted input device numbers would do the same. If Modern Warfare 4 ships and the security pages carry no two strike language, this stays an interview description and should be quoted that way.
A week off is not a deterrent. Losing the hardware is.