Call of Duty: Warzone 2 players have noticed an uptick in the amount of accounts getting shadow banned. Here’s why.
Over the past few weeks, many competitive players and content creators have been discussing the prevalence of false shadow bans. With so many accounts allegedly impacted by shadow bans, it has become a subject riddled with controversy in the Warzone community. Here is what you can do if your account has been shadow banned.
What is a shadow ban?
If you've been shadow banned in Call of Duty: Warzone 2, it means that you have violated the game's guidelines or policies in some way. Most players are shadow banned once their account has been reported for the same issue multiple times within a short time frame.
Shadow bans are different than a regular ban in that you can still play Warzone 2. Instead, a shadow banned account will only be able to play in lobbies full of other players that are shadow banned. That means that the lobbies may be full of cheaters, hackers, and toxic players. This, of course, makes for a pretty negative experience overall, leading to a lot of frustration.
You can tell if your account has been shadow banned if you notice that your lobbies have much higher ping than usual and it takes longer to connect to the lobby.
Shadow bans are not exclusive to Call of Duty: Warzone 2 but this free-to-play game is notoriously full of cheaters, which means many accounts have experienced this punishment.
How to remove a shadow ban from your account
If you suspect that your account has been shadow banned in Warzone 2, here is what usually happens. After your account has been shadow banned, Activision will review your account within the next few days. If they find no signs of cheating or hacking, the shadow ban will be lifted and you'll notice that gameplay is back to business as usual.
If you feel that Activision has wrongly accused you of cheating, you can submit an appeal to the Support Page. Activision will then review your case and make a decision based on the evidence they gather. Type in your account name and number on this page to see if your account is currently being reviewed or not.
Unfortunately, it's impossible to know exactly how long a shadow ban will last. The safest way to avoid a shadow ban or get it lifted sooner is to avoid any cheats and hacks while playing Warzone 2.