Activision Addresses Call of Duty Toxicity Before Black Ops 6

Activision is taking steps to address the toxicity often found in the multiplayer aspect of Call of Duty with new features set to be introduced in the upcoming title, Black Ops 6.

While the development team initially launched a voice moderation system with Modern Warfare 3, a more comprehensive version will be available from day one of Black Ops 6. This voice moderation will support five languages—currently including English, Spanish, and Portuguese, with plans to add French and German at launch. Text monitoring tools will be even broader, accommodating 20 languages, such as Japanese, Turkish, and Romanian.

The voice moderation system, known as ToxMod, developed by Modulate.ai, employs machine learning technology to assess voice and text communications for toxic behavior in real time. While it does not have the authority to ban players outright, it flags suspected violations to a team of moderators who have the power to impose penalties. Additionally, Activision utilizes Community Sift, an AI moderation tool created by Microsoft, to oversee text chat interactions.

“We designed ToxMod to help sift through the proverbial haystack and highlight the most pressing and harmful issues,” remarked Modulate CEO Mike Pappas in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz. “This enables moderators to focus their efforts where they can be most effective.”

According to a recent blog post from Activision, since the implementation of improved voice chat features in June, there has been a reported “67% decrease in repeat offenders of voice-chat offenses” in both Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty: Warzone, with instances of voice toxicity declining by 43%. Furthermore, the system has successfully blocked over 45 million messages deemed inappropriate in text chat since last November.

Despite being one of the most popular multiplayer shooter franchises globally, the Call of Duty community has faced significant toxicity issues, prompting Activision to establish a code of conduct along with tools like ToxMod to help mitigate negative behavior. The code of conduct emphasizes that the studio does not accept harassment or bullying, denounces cheating, and encourages players to report any misconduct.