20,000 users banned in Warzone in recent ban wave, including streamer
Update: VICE News reports that, according to their sources, over 20,000 accounts were banned as part of the new ban wave that occurred recently. This ban wave was in part due to new detection of the EngineOwning cheats.
VICE echos what we originally wrote too, stating that their sources also state Wagnificentt’s ban was in part because of the EngineOwning cheat being detected.
Here’s what their report had to say:
People familiar with the matter told Motherboard that Wagner was a user of a specific cheat, called EngineOwning, that was detected by Activision. That’s what prompted his ban.
An Activision spokesperson confirmed to VICE that a ban wave was issued on Monday, September 28, as the company continues to crack down on cheating in Call of Duty.
Original Story:
This morning, we reported that a popular Call of Duty: Warzone cheat site EngineOwning was being detected by Activision and Infinity Ward.
EngineOwning site updated their status page earlier this week to state that Modern Warfare and Warzone are no longer ‘safe’ to use their cheats as their cheats are now “detectable.”
With this being change, Infinity Ward appears to have sent out a ban wave over the weekend for all those using this cheat site’s software. Users of ‘EngineOwning’ on the forum have said that they want a ‘refund’ from EngineOwning for false advertisement.
One of the users who was part of this ban wave is an upcoming streamer known as ‘Wagnificentt.’ He posted on socials that his account was ‘permanently’ banned from accessing Warzone on September 28.
He claims in a tweet he was “falsely banned” and “deeply confused” about his ban. The tweet was met with many of his fans responding asking Activision to free his account.
However, according to what we’ve heard, Wagnificentt’s ban was part of the ban wave that was issued after the studio started detecting EngineOwning cheats in Call of Duty: Warzone.
A feature of EngineOwning that has been called out is the site could not be detected on streams. This meant followers who were watching streamers could not identify cheats themselves while viewing.
He since posted another tweet, which is now deleted, saying it is “ignorant” to “ignore everyone” that is banned close to a ban wave being the cause of his own ban.
His tweet says “it needs to be addressed” as to why he was banned, but we’re not sure if the studio plans to publicly address each ban wave that goes out.
We have no information suggesting he actually used any cheats, but we are able to report that his ban was part of this specific ban wave itself. There has been false bans reportedly occurring in the past, and the studios have been evaluating all of them on a case by case basis.
We have no other information to share on this ban wave at this time. We will update if we learn more information or if there is a public statement released by either Activision or Infinity Ward.