Research: Call of Duty players most often search for cheats online

Surfshark conducted a large-scale study on gamers' interest in cheating in popular online games. The Call of Duty franchise emerged as the clear leader in terms of third-party software searches, with 66 cheat-related searches per thousand active players. Rocket League came in second with 59 searches, and the tactical shooter Rainbow Six Siege X rounded out the top three with 53 searches per thousand users.

The data by genre is particularly interesting. MOBA fans turned out to be the most honest, with only 0.3 searches per thousand players, a stark contrast to action games, where the figure reaches 40, battle royales, with 28, and shooters, with 23. The researchers attribute this difference to the complexity of MOBA architecture, which makes traditional hacks technically difficult to implement, reducing the motivation to search for them.

Analysts also found a direct correlation between the presence of deep core-level anti-cheat protection and interest in cheats. Games with such anti-cheat software receive an average of 20 requests per thousand players, while games without core access receive 35. Marvel Rivals also made the list with 45 requests and PUBG with 39, after which interest significantly declines: Apex Legends has 25 requests, Fortnite 20, and ARC Raiders only 10. Interestingly, Battlefield, a major online shooter, ranks only 13th out of fifteen, confirming the franchise's traditionally low rate of cheating problems.