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: Modern Warfare II, Modern Warfare III, Warzone, and Black Ops 6. 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. If you play modern Call of Duty on PC, cod.exe is expected as the front-end.