"New Console-Only Crossplay Option 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 significant changes that have sparked concerns within the PC community about potential impacts on matchmaking queue times. Activision released the Season 3 patch notes, confirming a major overhaul in regular Multiplayer settings by separating Multiplayer Ranked Play and Call of Duty: Warzone Ranked Play. Additionally, a new Multiplayer-only setting for Quickplay, Featured, and Party Games matches has been introduced.

Starting April 4, players will have three distinct settings for these modes, each with the following crossplay options:

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

Activision has cautioned that selecting On (Consoles Only) may negatively affect matchmaking queue times, while choosing Off will definitely impact queue times adversely.

The introduction of console-only crossplay for regular Multiplayer has raised alarms among the Call of Duty PC community. They fear that console players opting to avoid matchmaking with PC players could lead to longer queue times. This concern stems from the game's reputation for cheating, which is more prevalent on PC. Activision has acknowledged this, noting that unfair deaths attributed to console players are more likely due to 'intel advantage' than actual cheating. Consequently, some console players disable crossplay to minimize encounters with potential PC cheaters.

PC players have expressed their frustrations on social media. Redditor exjr_ lamented, "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 on X/Twitter stated, "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." Another user, @CBBMack, added, "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."

Some within the community argue that Activision should focus on improving its anti-cheat system rather than isolating PC players. Redditor MailConsistent1344 suggested, "Maybe they should fix their anti-cheat instead of isolating PC players."

Activision has been investing heavily in combating cheating, with notable successes in recent months. In March, Phantom Overlay, a prominent Call of Duty cheat provider, announced its shutdown. Additionally, four other cheat providers were closed down ahead of the much-anticipated return of Verdansk to Warzone. Despite these efforts, the battle against cheating remains challenging. Activision has promised enhanced anti-cheat technology with Season 3, which could potentially alleviate some of the concerns expressed by PC players, especially with the expected influx of players returning to Verdansk.

However, many have noted that the majority of the casual console audience might remain unaware of these new settings. Most Call of Duty players do not delve into patch notes or spend much time adjusting settings. They typically jump into unranked Multiplayer for casual fun, potentially never realizing the console-only crossplay option exists or understanding its purpose. As a result, the majority of console players are likely to continue playing with crossplay enabled by default.

Call of Duty YouTuber TheXclusiveAce addressed PC player 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 that 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 interesting to observe whether these changes significantly affect matchmaking times and how effective the new anti-cheat measures will be in the ongoing battle against cheating.