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 within the PC gaming community about potential impacts on matchmaking queue times.
Activision released the Season 3 patch notes, which confirmed 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 setting dedicated solely to Multiplayer for Quickplay, Featured, and Party Games matches.
Starting April 4, with the launch of Season 3, the 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 warned that selecting "On (Consoles Only)" may negatively affect matchmaking queue times, and choosing "Off" will definitely impact queue times adversely.
The introduction of console-only crossplay in regular Multiplayer has sparked concern among some PC players, who fear longer queue times as a result. This worry stems from the prevalent issue of cheating in Call of Duty, which is more common on PC than on consoles. Activision has acknowledged this, stating 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.
PC players have expressed frustration over the change. Redditor exjr_ commented, “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, @GKeepnclassy on X / Twitter stated, “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.” @CBBMack added, "My lobbies barely fill already to being 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 said, “Maybe they should fix their anti-cheat instead of isolating PC players.”
Activision has been actively fighting cheating in Call of Duty, spending millions to tackle cheat makers, sellers, and users. Recent successes include the shutdown of Phantom Overlay and four other cheat providers just 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, and it will be intriguing to see if this alleviates PC players' concerns, especially with the expected influx of players due to Verdansk's return.
However, many in the community, including Call of Duty YouTuber TheXclusiveAce, have noted that the majority of console players, who are typically casual gamers, might not even be aware of these new settings. Most players do not delve into patch notes or spend time adjusting settings; they simply enjoy unranked Multiplayer for a short time and then log off. Consequently, these players may continue playing with crossplay enabled by default, unaware of the console-only option or its purpose.
TheXclusiveAce addressed PC players' 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 affect the player experience and whether they will help in Activision's ongoing battle against cheating.
