PC Players 'Penalized' by Console-Only Crossplay 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 change that has sparked concerns within the PC community about potential impacts on their matchmaking queue times. Activision has released the Season 3 patch notes, confirming a major update to regular Multiplayer. The update separates the settings for Multiplayer Ranked Play and *Call of Duty: Warzone* Ranked Play and introduces a new Multiplayer-only setting for Quickplay, Featured, and Party Games matches.

Starting April 4, when Season 3 goes live, players will have three distinct settings for matchmaking:

• 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 explicitly warned that selecting "On (Consoles Only)" may lead to longer matchmaking queue times, and choosing "Off" will certainly impact queue times negatively.

The introduction of console-only crossplay options in regular Multiplayer has raised alarms among the *Call of Duty* PC community. They fear that console players opting out of PC matchmaking could result in extended wait times for them. This concern stems from the well-known 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 'intel advantage' rather than outright cheating. Consequently, some console players disable crossplay to avoid potential encounters with PC cheaters.

PC players have voiced their frustrations on social media. 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." X / Twitter user @GKeepnclassy echoed these sentiments, saying, "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 expressed concern over already slow matchmaking due to skill-based matchmaking (SBMM), predicting that the new settings would exacerbate the issue, suggesting they might need to switch to console.

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 millions in combating cheating in *Call of Duty*, with several high-profile successes. Earlier in March, Phantom Overlay, a prominent cheat provider, announced its shutdown, and last month, four other cheat providers were shut down in anticipation of Verdansk's return to *Warzone*. Despite these efforts, the battle against cheating remains challenging. With the launch of Season 3, Activision promises improved anti-cheat technology, which could impact PC players' experience, especially with the expected influx of players due to Verdansk's return.

However, many in the *Call of Duty* community believe that the majority of console players, being casual gamers, may not even notice these new settings. Most players do not delve into patch notes or spend time adjusting settings; they simply jump into unranked Multiplayer for a quick session. As such, they may remain unaware of the console-only crossplay option or its rationale. This point was highlighted by *Call of Duty* YouTuber TheXclusiveAce, who responded to 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 intriguing to observe how these changes affect the gameplay experience and whether Activision's ongoing efforts to combat cheating yield noticeable improvements for the community.