With the launch of Season 3 this week, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone are set to undergo significant changes that could impact matchmaking queue times, particularly for the PC community. Activision has released the Season 3 patch notes, confirming a major update to regular Multiplayer. The update separates the Multiplayer Ranked Play and Call of Duty: Warzone Ranked Play settings and introduces a new Multiplayer-only setting for Quickplay, Featured, and Party Games matches.
Each of these three settings—Multiplayer Ranked Play, Call of Duty: Warzone Ranked Play, and Multiplayer Unranked—will feature the following crossplay options when Season 3 goes live on April 4:
- 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 impact matchmaking queue times, and explicitly stated that choosing Off will do so.
The introduction of console-only crossplay in regular Multiplayer has raised concerns among some within the Call of Duty PC community. They worry that console players opting out of matchmaking with PC players could lead to longer queue times for them. This concern stems from the prevalent issue of cheating in Call of Duty, which is more common on PC. Activision has acknowledged this problem, noting that if players suspect unfair deaths from console players, it's more likely due to an 'intel advantage' than cheating. As a result, many console players disable crossplay to avoid PC cheaters.
PC players have expressed frustration over this change, with some suggesting that Activision should focus on improving its anti-cheat measures rather than isolating PC players. Comments from the community include sentiments like, “As a PC player…. hate this change but I get it,” from redditor exjr_, and “This is awful for PC players because this just killed PC,” from X / Twitter user @GKeepnclassy. Others, like @CBBMack, noted existing issues with matchmaking on PC due to skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) and fear this change will exacerbate the problem.
Activision has invested heavily in combating cheating, with recent successes including the shutdown of high-profile cheat providers like Phantom Overlay. Despite these efforts, the fight against cheating remains challenging. With the launch of Season 3, Activision has promised improved anti-cheat technology, which could be crucial, especially with the anticipated influx of players due to the return of Verdansk to Warzone.
However, many in the Call of Duty community believe that the majority of console players, who are casual gamers, may not even be aware of these new settings. Most players simply jump into unranked Multiplayer for casual fun and do not delve into patch notes or settings. As such, they may continue playing with crossplay on by default, which could mitigate the impact on PC matchmaking times.
Call of Duty YouTuber TheXclusiveAce addressed PC player 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, it remains to be seen whether these changes will significantly affect matchmaking and how effective Activision's ongoing efforts to combat cheating will be.
