"New Console-Only Crossplay Penalizes Non-Cheating PC Players in Call of Duty Multiplayer"

With the launch of Season 3 this week, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone are set to undergo a significant update that has sparked concerns within the PC gaming community about potential impacts on matchmaking queue times.

Activision released the Season 3 patch notes, confirming a major adjustment to regular Multiplayer. The update separates the settings for Multiplayer Ranked Play and Call of Duty: Warzone Ranked Play, introducing a new setting exclusively for Multiplayer Quickplay, Featured, and Party Games matches.

Starting April 4, when Season 3 goes live, players can choose from three crossplay settings in these modes:

• On: Enables matchmaking with all gaming platforms in the selected playlists.
• On (Consoles Only): Limits matchmaking to other consoles in selected playlists.
• Off: Restricts matchmaking to your current gaming platform only in selected playlists.

Activision has warned that selecting On (Consoles Only) could lead to longer matchmaking queue times, while choosing Off will definitely result in longer waits.

The introduction of console-only crossplay in regular Multiplayer has raised alarms among PC players, who fear that this option might lead to increased queue times. The concern stems from the game's history of cheating, which is more prevalent on PC. Activision has acknowledged this issue, stating that unfair deaths attributed to console players are more likely due to 'intel advantage' than actual cheating. As a result, many console players disable crossplay to avoid potential encounters with PC cheaters.

PC players have expressed their frustration on platforms like Reddit and X (formerly Twitter). For instance, user exjr_ commented, “As a PC player… hate this change but I get it. I hope it doesn’t affect queue times for the game in the long-run so I’m not forced to buy the game on PS5 to have a good experience.” Similarly, @GKeepnclassy voiced concerns, stating, “This is awful for PC players because this just killed PC. Terrible idea because now PC players that ARE NOT cheating are being penalized. This is bullshit.”

Some players, like @CBBMack, have noted existing issues with matchmaking on PC, saying, “My lobbies barely fill already to begin with on PC due to sbmm. This will without a doubt make it worse. Time to plug in the console I guess.”

There's a sentiment among the PC community that Activision should focus on enhancing its anti-cheat measures rather than isolating PC players. Redditor MailConsistent1344 remarked, “Maybe they should fix their anti-cheat instead of isolating PC players.”

Activision has invested heavily in combating cheating, with recent successes including the shutdown of prominent cheat providers like Phantom Overlay. Despite these efforts, the battle against cheating remains challenging. With the launch of Season 3, Activision promises improved anti-cheat technology, which will be crucial as Warzone sees an influx of players with the return of Verdansk.

However, many in the console community may not even be aware of these new settings. The majority of Call of Duty players on consoles typically do not delve into patch notes or adjust settings, opting instead for unranked Multiplayer sessions. This means that most console players will continue playing with crossplay enabled by default, unaware of the option to switch to console-only play.

Call of Duty YouTuber TheXclusiveAce addressed these concerns on social media, stating, “I see a lot of pushback with this change from PC players concerned that they won't be able to find games in lesser played modes or that matchmaking will take too long. To be clear, PC players will still be matchmaking with the largest pool of the playerbase since the majority of players won't even notice this setting exists so they'll stick to the default or even if they are aware of it, many will choose to leave it on. If anything, it's the players that decide to turn console-only crossplay on that will be limiting their matchmaking pool but that's a choice that's now in their hands for the first time in Pubs and it's a tradeoff that many of us will be happy to make.”

As Season 3 approaches for Black Ops 6 and Warzone, it will be intriguing to observe the impact of these changes on the gaming community, especially as Activision continues its efforts to combat cheating.