With the launch of Season 3 this week, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone are set to undergo a significant change that has raised concerns among the PC community, particularly regarding matchmaking queue times. Activision released the Season 3 patch notes, confirming a major update to the regular Multiplayer settings. The update separates Multiplayer Ranked Play and Call of Duty: Warzone Ranked Play, introducing a new Multiplayer-only setting for Quickplay, Featured, and Party Games matches.
Starting April 4, when Season 3 goes live, each of the three settings—Multiplayer Ranked Play, Call of Duty: Warzone Ranked Play, and Multiplayer Unranked—will include 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 impact matchmaking queue times, while choosing "Off" will definitely do so. The introduction of console-only crossplay in regular Multiplayer has sparked apprehension within the Call of Duty PC community, as it could potentially lead to longer queue times for them. This concern stems from the game's reputation for cheating, which is more prevalent on PC. Activision has acknowledged this issue, noting that unfair deaths attributed to console players are more likely due to 'intel advantage' rather than cheats.
As a result, some console players opt to disable crossplay entirely to avoid PC cheaters. This has led to frustration among PC players, with some expressing their discontent on platforms like Reddit and X (formerly Twitter). For instance, 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." Similarly, X user @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."
Others, like @CBBMack, have noted existing issues with matchmaking on PC due to skill-based matchmaking (SBMM), which they believe will be exacerbated by this change. Some PC players argue that Activision should focus on improving its anti-cheat measures instead of segregating platforms. Redditor MailConsistent1344 suggested, "Maybe they should fix their anti-cheat instead of isolating PC players."
Activision has indeed invested heavily in combating cheating, with recent successes including the shutdown of prominent cheat providers like Phantom Overlay and others ahead of Verdansk's return 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 PC community's concerns, especially with the anticipated influx of players returning to Verdansk.
However, it's worth noting that many casual console players might not even be aware of these new settings, as they typically do not delve into patch notes or settings menus. Most will continue playing unranked Multiplayer without altering their crossplay settings, which are off by default. This perspective was echoed by Call of Duty YouTuber TheXclusiveAce, who 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."
TheXclusiveAce further explained, "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 fascinating to observe whether these changes will impact the game's dynamics and how effective Activision's ongoing efforts against cheating will be.
