This is exactly what happens when developers make games public for so-called “playtesting.” Hackers exploit the freedom immediately, flooding lobbies with cheats and ruining the experience for everyone else. Early access to Call of Duty: Black Ops 7’s beta has been live for only hours, and already it’s infested with wall-hacks, aimbots, and exploit tools.
It raises the bigger issue: open betas and alphas should be banned entirely. Years ago, studios relied on dedicated internal testing teams who spent time and effort polishing games and fixing bugs before launch. Those teams ensured fair play and stability. Now, open betas have become a playground for script kiddies who can’t play fair and feel the need to ruin matches for the rest of us. If you’re one of those cheaters in-game, you’re not talented — you’re just a loser.
Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 Fail to Deliver
Black Ops 7 is the first Call of Duty to enforce Secure Boot and Trusted Platform Module 2.0 (TPM) requirements, following a similar move by EA’s Battlefield 6. The goal was to lock down systems and give Ricochet anti-cheat more control over security. But despite these mandatory requirements, it hasn’t stopped the cheating problem on day one.
Clips are already spreading online showing cheaters snapping to enemy heads with aimbots and tracking players through walls. For all the promises of stricter security, the reality is the same: cheaters adapt faster than defenses.
Empty Promises of “Smarter” Anti-Cheat
Just before launch, Activision promised Black Ops 7 would debut with “the most advanced and robust anti-cheat protections in gaming.” The company said it had trained machine learning systems on millions of hours of gameplay and claimed Ricochet was now “smarter, faster, and more reliable than ever.”
The results speak for themselves. The cheaters are still here, and they arrived faster than the system could react. Players are rightfully asking whether Activision’s so-called improvements make any real difference.
Beta Access Issues Add Insult to Injury
On top of the cheating problem, many players with official early access codes couldn’t even get into the beta. Instead, they were prompted to pre-order the game to gain access — despite already having valid codes. Although Activision says this issue has been fixed, reports continue to surface of players locked out of the test.
A Broken System That Needs to End
The launch of the Black Ops 7 beta proves that open betas and public alphas are broken systems. Instead of letting hackers abuse early builds, studios should return to proper closed testing with dedicated QA teams that focus on balance, bugs, and stability. The community deserves fair competition — not ruined matches from day one.
Until publishers abandon the idea of public playtests, players will continue to suffer through launches like this: games overrun with cheaters, false promises of security, and frustration that never should have existed in the first place.
