Warzone 2 players claim shadow banning is out of control

Liam Mackay
Klaus Operator in Warzone 2 al bagrah fortress map

Being shadow banned on Warzone means your account is under review after being suspected of cheating, but players claim the system is out of control after their accounts keep getting banned and unbanned over and over.

While Warzone and Modern Warfare 2‘s RICOCHET anti-cheat strikes the permanent ban hammer, players who are suspected of cheating can get shadow banned. While their account is under review, it becomes almost impossible to find a game and if they do find one, it has high latency and is filled with other suspected hackers.

What causes a player to get shadow banned isn’t confirmed, but many suspect it’s because of the in-game reporting system — enough reports and the account goes under review. However, players including high-profile streamers claim that the shadow ban system is out of control where they’re continuously getting banned and unbanned.

Popular Warzone streamer DougIsRaw claimed they “Got un-shadowbanned and then immediately shadowbanned again,” explaining that “having the public dictate who is a cheater through a simple report system when they get shit on is the dumbest thing I’ve witnessed.”

Doug is far from being the only one reporting these issues, with another streamer kritikalmotion tweeting: “I was unbanned on Warzone last night…2 hours in today I am shadowbanned again.”

Reddit user ‘itsx4nd3r’ also said they were “Under Review instantly after being cleared from my last one.” They said their shadowban was cleared on the 24th but was reapplied after they logged back in and shot one bullet.

Several other players said they’ve been experiencing the exact same problem. “I’ve had two shadowbans in the last three weeks and I’m scared to play again once the second one clears,” explained one user.

“This happened to me on the 22nd,” replied u/vonoswald. “Unbanned 48 hrs later, tried playing again and then instantly banned once the game started and disconnected from server again. Unbanned again 24 hrs later, joined game and instantly banned again.”

Of course, it’s impossible to know if all of the players reporting false shadowbans are actually legit, but if the issue continues to plague players after the holidays, it should be on the devs’ radar.


For more on Warzone 2, you can also check out when Building 21 is set to return as well as the leaked Season 2 weapons.

Image Credit: Activision

About The Author

Liam is CharlieIntel's Editor. After graduating in Journalism from Edinburgh Napier University, Liam made use of his passion for FPS games, including Call of Duty, by writing for sites such as The Nerd Stash, Red Bull Gaming, and GAMINGbible before joining CharlieIntel in November 2020. You can contact Liam at [email protected].