With the launch of Season 3 this week, *Call of Duty: Black Ops 6* and *Warzone* are set to undergo significant changes that have raised concerns among some members of the PC gaming community, particularly regarding their matchmaking queue times. Activision has released the Season 3 patch notes, confirming a major update to regular Multiplayer by separating the settings for Multiplayer Ranked Play and *Call of Duty: Warzone* Ranked Play, and introducing a new Multiplayer-only setting for Quickplay, Featured, and Party Games matches.
Starting April 4, when Season 3 goes live, each of these three settings (Multiplayer Ranked Play, *Call of Duty: Warzone* Ranked Play, and Multiplayer Unranked) 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 explicitly warned that selecting "On (Consoles Only)" may negatively impact matchmaking queue times, and choosing "Off" will certainly do so. The introduction of console-only crossplay in regular Multiplayer has sparked apprehension among PC players, who fear that console players opting out of crossplay with PCs could lead to longer queue times for them.
The concern stems from *Call of Duty*'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 cheating. As a result, many console players disable crossplay to avoid potential encounters with PC cheaters, a move that could exacerbate the queue time issue for PC players.
Reactions from the PC community have been vocal. Redditor exjr_ expressed understanding but concern, stating, "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 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 pointed out existing issues with matchmaking on PC, saying, "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 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 been actively combating cheating, spending millions of dollars to tackle cheat makers, sellers, and users, with notable successes recently. Earlier in March, Phantom Overlay, a prominent *Call of Duty* cheat provider, announced its shutdown, and four other cheat providers were closed down ahead of the anticipated return of Verdansk to *Warzone*. Despite these efforts, the battle against cheating remains challenging. Activision has promised enhanced anti-cheat technology with the launch of Season 3, which could potentially ease some of the concerns of PC players, especially with the expected influx of players due to Verdansk's return.
However, many within the *Call of Duty* community believe that the vast majority of casual console players may not even be aware of these new settings. Most players do not delve into patch notes or spend time adjusting settings; they simply jump into unranked Multiplayer for some fun before logging off. This group is unlikely to know about or utilize the console-only crossplay option, meaning they will continue to play with crossplay on by default.
*Call of Duty* YouTuber TheXclusiveAce addressed PC player concerns in a social media post, saying, "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 impact the player experience, particularly as Activision continues its fight against cheaters.
