UPDATE (February 12th): Vikkstar says he’s returned to the game.
Original article (published February 1st 2021): Prominent British YouTuber and one of Call of Duty: Warzone’s biggest content creators, Vikkstar, has quit the game due to hackers ruining the game experience.
The YouTuber, who is also known as Vikkstar123 and has more than 7m subscribers, said Warzone is in ‘the worst state it’s ever been in’.
“It needs to be fixed or it will result in the death of the game,” Vikkstar said in his video below. “It is so painful to play.”
Vikkstar is also a co-owner of the London Royal Ravens and a member of the Sidemen, a group of YouTubers also including KSI, Zerkaa and more.
You can see a view of one hacker Vikkstar went up against – MrSlazy FbGaming – from the 6:50 mark. You can clearly see the hack on display, as the player is able to see the location of every other player in the match:
The hacker said on their Facebook page to Vikkstar: “Sorry to make ya quit lol.”
At the time of publication their Facebook page is still live.
Esports News UK has noticed an increase in hackers playing the game in recent months.
London Royal Ravens MD and Rektglobal chief gaming officer Michael ‘ODEE’ O’Dell has complained about hackers on stream, while others in the community have bemoaned Activision’s lack of action regarding the issue:
Activision has recently reposted an in-game message first shared last spring.
It states: “We take all forms of cheating very seriously, maintaining a level and fair playing field for everyone is among our highest priorities. This is an area we have been working on heavily, but it isn’t always something we discuss publicly.
“We employ a number of programs in place to combat both cheaters and cheat providers.
“Our security teams monitor 24/7 to investigate data and identify potential infractions. The teams review all possible cheats and hacks, this includes identifying use of aimbots, wallhacks and more.
“We’re working to improve our in-game system for reporting potential cheating. Plans are underway to streamline the UI for a more seamless reporting experience.”
Activision also stated that there’s been more than 70,000 permanent bans to date.
Vikkstar has since provided an update and says he’s in contact with Activision over the issue:
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
