cod

cod.exe is the Call of Duty HQ launcher, the shared front-end Activision introduced in 2022 that presents a single menu for the modern Call of Duty titles. Activision's Steam listing for it now describes it as supporting Modern Warfare 4, Black Ops 7, and Warzone; Modern Warfare II and Modern Warfare III moved out into standalone installs on July 29, 2025, and Black Ops 6 followed on July 7, 2026. It is the entry point, not the game logic itself; when you pick a title, HQ starts a separate, year-coded game process (for Modern Warfare III, that is cod23-cod.exe, curated below).

Activision's anti-cheat is RICOCHET, which combines server-side detection with a kernel-level driver on PC. Activision's own support documentation states the driver loads when you launch a protected title and turns off when you close the game, so it is active during play rather than from boot.

RICOCHET is one of the more openly documented anti-cheats, through Activision's published progress reports. Its mitigations are unusual and worth knowing: 'Cloaking' can make a detected cheater unable to see legitimate players, and 'Damage Shield' can reduce a flagged cheater's damage output, both designed to expose cheats rather than only ban silently, alongside large periodic ban waves.

The unified HQ launcher was widely criticized as bloated, and Activision has since moved to decouple standalone titles so the full HQ install is not always required. Since Black Ops 7, a first launch through HQ can also raise a Windows administrator prompt for CODBrokerInstaller.exe or enrollaik.exe, which Activision describes as registering the TPM its newer titles require. If you play modern Call of Duty on PC, cod.exe is expected as the front-end.

Corrected 2026-10-20: this note used to say HQ presents Modern Warfare II, Modern Warfare III, Warzone, and Black Ops 6. Modern Warfare II and Modern Warfare III had already left HQ for standalone installs on July 29, 2025, and Black Ops 6 followed on July 7, 2026.