We’ve only just begun scratching the surface of Call of Duty Elite, but Activision has already set to clearing up a few of gamers’ worries especially as they pertain to cheating. For those gamers who might be concerned that a service whose main goal is to provide exhaustive stat tracking and ranking is prone to exploit, Activision has come out to say they plan to work hard to squash any such issues.

Speaking with Eurogamer, the publisher revealed that they are well aware of the potential exploits and cheats that might arise with Call of Duty Elite, but also promise to work hard to eliminate that potential. In Call of Duty Elite-sanctioned events and matches, the publisher explains that gamers should be free of worry, and should  have the freedom to focus on enjoying the experience.

It might not be on the level of security exploitation that something like the PSN attack was, but if a gamer was to gain access to Elite’s core functions that might deteriorate the value of the commodity. As such, Activision isn’t going to simply design programs to seek out breaches and the like, but they instead will dedicate effort on the human level to seek out instances of intrusion and exploitation on a case-by-case basis.

"From a developer standpoint we put an extremely high premium on security.We have dedicated staff focusing on that from an architectural standpoint, making sure nothing we design is exposed, and we're also making sure that we're securing the events and competitions that will eventually become part of the service...That's why we have to have this big administrative team there to add the human level of understanding, and assessing individual cases. No machine will be able to tell if another guy cheated in the game. We need people to arbitrate."

While Activision’s comments about security should provide solace for those gamers who plan to participate in the Elite service’s various online events and competitions, that doesn’t mean that future titles will not be without their exploits. Instead the publisher is reassuring those gamers who choose to fork over the cash for Elite that their site tracking, as compared to other gamers, will be legitimate.

This, however, doesn’t mean that Modern Warfare 3, when it hits this November, will not take some time and a few patches/updates to clear out a new title’s inherent imperfections. There might, at first, be a few gamers who skyrocket to the top of the Elite rankings, or who dominate matches by way of cheats, but Activision is vowing to use real man hours in order to seek those issues out.

After Call of Duty Elite was first unveiled, many gamers balked at the idea of coughing up a monthly subscription fee in favor of stat tracking that is offered by other titles for free. However, now that Activision has gone into further detail about the service — explaining just how exhaustive the features will be — it seems like Call of Duty Elite might be the start of something really special for the very popular franchise. It might not be something entirely new, or warrant the price tag, but it’s something many gamers have desired for some time now.

How would you like to see Activision address the issue of cheating with Call of Duty Elite? Do you think the service will be free of exploits?

Source: Eurogamer