COD Crossplay Penalizes Non-Cheating PC Players

With Season 3 launching this week, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone introduce changes that PC players worry may significantly impact their matchmaking times.

Activision's Season 3 patch notes reveal a major adjustment coming to standard Multiplayer playlists. The update will separate Multiplayer Ranked Play and Warzone Ranked Play settings while introducing a new Multiplayer-only option for Quickplay, Featured, and Party Games.

When Season 3 launches on April 4, players will have three distinct crossplay options across these modes:

• On: Enables cross-platform matchmaking across all gaming platforms
• On (Consoles Only): Restricts matchmaking to console players only
• Off: Limits matchmaking to your specific gaming platform

Activision cautioned that both the Consoles Only and Off settings may increase queue times, with the latter expected to cause more significant delays.

The introduction of console-only crossplay in standard Multiplayer has sparked concerns within the PC community. Players worry that widespread adoption of this setting among console users could lead to prolonged matchmaking waits on PC.

Cheating remains an ongoing challenge for Call of Duty - an inevitable consequence of its massive popularity and free-to-play battle royale model. While cheating occurs across platforms, Activision acknowledges PC faces greater issues (though noting deaths often attributed to cheating may instead involve legitimate tactical advantages). Some console players disable crossplay entirely to avoid potential encounters with PC cheaters.

"As a PC player...I understand this change but dislike it," commented Reddit user exjr_. "I'm hoping queue times remain reasonable long-term so I don't need to switch to PS5 for optimal play."

"This effectively kills PC play," tweeted @GKeepnclassy. "Legitimate PC players are being punished - this solution misses the mark completely."

"Matchmaking already struggles to fill PC lobbies due to SBMM," noted @CBBMack. "This will absolutely make it worse. Time to dust off my console."

Many PC players argue Activision should strengthen anti-cheat measures rather than implement solutions that potentially isolate their platform. "Maybe they should focus on fixing anti-cheat instead of segregating PC players," suggested Reddit user MailConsistent1344.

Activision has invested heavily in combating cheating infrastructure, achieving several major victories recently. In March, prominent cheat provider Phantom Overlay unexpectedly shut down. Last month saw four additional cheat services disabled ahead of Warzone's highly anticipated Verdansk revival.

However, this remains an ongoing challenge that may never have a perfect solution. Activision promises enhanced anti-cheat technology with Season 3, though whether PC players notice meaningful improvements - especially with Verdansk's return likely boosting player counts - remains uncertain.

Many observers note that casual console players - who represent Call of Duty's largest audience - may never engage with these new settings. Most players simply jump into matches without adjusting configurations or reading patch notes.

Call of Duty content creator TheXclusiveAce addressed these concerns publicly:

"Many PC players fear this will make niche modes unplayable or increase wait times," TheXclusiveAce explained. "In reality, PC players will still access the largest matchmaking pool since most players won't change defaults."

"Players opting for console-only crossplay are deliberately shrinking their matchmaking pool - but now that choice is finally available for public matches. Many of us welcome this tradeoff."

As Season 3 arrives, the community awaits concrete data on how these changes actually affect matchmaking dynamics across platforms.