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

With the launch of Season 3 this week, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone are set to undergo significant changes, particularly affecting the PC community's matchmaking queue times. Activision has released the Season 3 patch notes, detailing a major update to the Multiplayer settings. The update separates the Multiplayer Ranked Play and Call of Duty: Warzone Ranked Play settings and introduces a new Multiplayer-only setting for Quickplay, Featured, and Party Games matches.

Each of these three settings—Multiplayer Ranked Play, Call of Duty: Warzone Ranked Play, and Multiplayer Unranked—will feature the following crossplay options starting April 4:

• 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 lead to longer matchmaking queue times, while choosing "Off" will definitely impact queue times negatively.

The introduction of console-only crossplay in regular Multiplayer has raised concerns among the PC community. The fear is that console players opting out of crossplay with PC players could result in longer queue times for PC gamers. This concern stems from the ongoing issue of cheating in Call of Duty, which is more prevalent on PC. Activision has acknowledged this, noting that unfair deaths attributed to console players are more likely due to an 'intel advantage' than actual cheating. Consequently, some console players disable crossplay to avoid potential encounters with PC cheaters.

PC players have expressed frustration over the change. Redditor exjr_ stated, "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." On X/Twitter, @GKeepnclassy remarked, "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." Similarly, @CBBMack pointed out, "My lobbies barely fill already to being with on PC due to sbmm. This will without a doubt make it worse. Time to plug in the console I guess."

Some PC players argue that Activision should focus on improving its anti-cheat measures rather than isolating PC players. Redditor MailConsistent1344 commented, "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 and several others ahead of Verdansk's return to Warzone. Despite these efforts, the fight against cheating remains challenging. With the launch of Season 3, Activision promises enhanced anti-cheat technology, which may influence PC players' experiences, particularly with the expected influx of players due to Verdansk's return.

However, many within the Call of Duty community believe that the majority of console players, who are typically casual gamers, may not even be aware of these new settings. Most players simply jump into unranked Multiplayer for quick fun without delving into patch notes or settings. As such, they may continue playing with crossplay enabled by default, unaware of the console-only option.

Call of Duty YouTuber TheXclusiveAce addressed PC players' 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 remains to be seen how these changes will affect the gaming experience and whether Activision's ongoing efforts to combat cheating will make a significant impact.