Wallhacks have plagued Call of Duty for years, but in Modern Warfare 4, Activision has a plan to change that.
If you’re unfamiliar with the term, wallhacks are a type of cheat that allows nefarious players to see their opponents’ every move through walls. Call of Duty is far from the only multiplayer-centric gaming franchise to suffer from cheaters who use the tool, but it might be the most infamous example – and in Modern Warfare 4, that’s all about to change.
As detailed in a new video published on the franchise’s official social media pages, publisher Activision and developer Infinity Ward revealed a new system aimed at combating wallhack cheaters. Called “server culling,” the goal is to make Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 more reliable – and fair – than ever before.
Few things ruin a great match faster than wondering whether an opponent earned the win or saw you through a wall.
Wallhacks give cheaters information they were never meant to have. With Modern Warfare 4, we’re introducing a new way to fight back: Server Culling.
Here’s how it… pic.twitter.com/62m41zMbLa
— Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) October 2, 2026
The relatively in-depth explanation touches on how cheaters have been able to use wallhacks thus far. Usually, servers share information, such as a player’s in-game location, between game clients. It means that, even when you can’t see an enemy hiding behind cover, waiting to pop out for an easy kill, the game itself still recognizes that the player is there.
Server culling, which saw Infinity Ward build occlusion layers into Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4’s environments, essentially limits information to what the player is able to see. So, if you can’t see someone behind the wall, the backend can’t either – and that goes for wallhackers, too.
“For legitimate players, the match plays exactly as intended,” Activision explained. “For cheat developers, this creates a major new obstacle.”
Server culling will touch every multiplayer map available in Modern Warfare 4 when launch arrives, but it doesn’t stop there. Call of Duty’s new take on DMZ, the Combat Outpost mode, Warzone, and future updates will benefit from this attack on wallhacks, too. All of this new tech works alongside pre-existing anti-cheat methods across all platforms, too.
Activision said it expects server culling to “disturb the cheat marketplace,” but it won’t “sit on our hands” when it comes to improving the overall experience going forward. There are plenty of different ways for cheaters to disrupt the experience for the average player, and while cheat manufacterers will no doubt look for new ways to learn from Activision’s advancements, the publisher said it will do its best to stay on top of the issue.
“Cheat software can’t reveal information it never receives,” the Call of Duty team explained in a follow-up post. “When a player shouldn’t be able to know where an opponent is, the server can now withhold that opponent’s location data from their hardware. It’s a new layer in the fight for fair play, working alongside the rest of our anti-cheat systems Server Culling will cover every map available at launch for MW4.”
See you at launch, we’ll keep at it
— Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) October 2, 2026
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launches for PC, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S October 23, 2026. How fans will rank it amongst other installments in the franchise remains to be seen, but with changes to 2XP tokens and a villain played by Death Stranding and Casino Royale actor Mads Mikkelsen, it’s clear the developers have put in the work to get players interested.
For more, you can read up on how the series’ anti-cheat boss pushed back on some cheating myths. You can also check out how much Activision estimated the cheating market generates per year.