Call of Duty and Battlefield 6 will both require Secure Boot on Windows

To better protect against cheaters, Activision says that Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 players on PC will need to use hardware with Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 and have Windows’ Secure Boot feature turned on when the game is available later this year.

Ahead of that, Activision is doing a “phased rollout” of the features alongside the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s fifth season on Thursday. At least for this season, it won’t be “enforcing against or requiring the use of either setting.” EA has also said that Battlefield 6 PC players will need to have Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 enabled to play the upcoming open beta.

While anti-cheat systems and other security measures can go a long way toward blocking cheaters in games, the tools have come under scrutiny for potentially slowing down gamers’ systems or for requiring users to turn on features they don’t want to use. As Activision even admits in today’s blog post, sometimes, they still aren’t enough to fully block cheaters.

Activision argues that “these hardware-level protections are a key part of our anti-cheat efforts, and we’re asking all players to get compliant now.” The update “will let us test our implementation of both features and gives you time to enable these settings.”

Regarding performance, “TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot will not impact in-game quality,” Activision says. “These features perform checks during system and game startup but remain inactive while you play.”

Activision is also encouraging users to turn on two-factor authentication. While two-factor authentication isn’t required to play the game right now, it “may become a requirement for all users in the future.”

Update, August 6th: Battlefield 6’s open beta will also require Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 to be turned on.