Over half a million accounts have been banned from Call of Duty so far.

That's according to publisher Activision, which wrote in a blog post that it had booted 500,000 accounts to date in a post detailing how it is handling toxicity within the shooter giant. The firm has also had 300,000 accounts change their names, seemingly due to them featuring offensive content.

"Call of Duty employs the use of new automated technology alongside human moderation to help filter text chat and account names from offensive language," the company wrote.

"In part, due to these efforts, we have seen a more than 55% drop in the number of offensive username and clan tags reports from our players, year-over-year, in the month of August alone in Call of Duty®: Warzone.

"We recognize battling toxicity will be an ongoing effort. We will continue to monitor our titles, address player-submitted reports, and expand our technology to combat toxic behaviour."

Last year, Activision revealed it was bringing new kernel-level anti-cheat measures to Call of Duty with Ricochet.

This news comes alongside the unveiling of a brand new code of conduct for players. The first value is to treat people with respect – so no insults and slurs and so on, while the second is to compete with integrity. That will be focusing on the cheating problems that COD has – like many games franchises with an online competitive element – faced for several years now. Finally, the series' final pillar is to stay vigilant, working with players to make sure the experience is safe and fair.