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 stirred concerns within the PC community about potential impacts on matchmaking queue times. Activision has rolled out the Season 3 patch notes, confirming a major update to regular Multiplayer. This update separates the settings for 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, with the launch of Season 3, players will have three distinct settings: Multiplayer Ranked Play, Call of Duty: Warzone Ranked Play, and Multiplayer Unranked. Each setting will offer 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 warned that selecting On (Consoles Only) may lead to longer matchmaking queue times, while choosing Off will certainly result in negatively impacted queue times.
The introduction of console-only crossplay in regular Multiplayer has raised alarms among the Call of Duty PC community. The concern stems from the potential for longer queue times if console players opt out of matchmaking with PC players. This change is influenced by the prevalent issue of cheating, which is more common 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, many console players disable crossplay entirely to avoid encounters with PC cheaters.
Reactions from the PC community have been vocal and varied. Redditor exjr_ expressed frustration but understanding, saying, "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 lamented, "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 highlighted the impact of skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) on PC, stating, "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 PC players have called for Activision to enhance 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 been actively fighting against cheating, investing millions and achieving notable successes, such as the recent shutdown of Phantom Overlay and several other cheat providers. With the anticipated return of Verdansk to Warzone, the company has promised improved anti-cheat technology for Season 3. It remains to be seen whether these improvements will alleviate concerns among PC players, especially with the expected influx of players.
However, many in the community point out that the majority of Call of Duty's console player base may not even utilize these new settings. Most casual players do not delve into patch notes or spend time adjusting settings; they simply jump into unranked Multiplayer for a quick gaming session. These players may remain unaware of the console-only crossplay option or its rationale, potentially continuing to play with crossplay enabled by default.
Call of Duty YouTuber TheXclusiveAce addressed these concerns, 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, the community will be watching closely to see how these changes affect gameplay and whether they help in Activision's ongoing battle against cheating.
