New Console-Only Crossplay Option Penalizes Non-Cheating PC Players in Call of Duty Multiplayer

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 raised concerns among the PC community, particularly regarding potential impacts on matchmaking queue times.

Activision has released the Season 3 patch notes, confirming a major adjustment to regular Multiplayer. The 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. As Season 3 goes live on April 4, players will have the following crossplay options for each of the three settings (Multiplayer Ranked Play, *Call of Duty: Warzone* Ranked Play, and Multiplayer Unranked):

• 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 lead to negatively impacted matchmaking queue times, while choosing "Off" will undoubtedly result in longer waits. The introduction of console-only crossplay in regular Multiplayer has sparked worry among the PC community, who fear longer queue times due to console players opting out of PC matchmaking to avoid potential cheaters.

Cheating is a well-known issue in *Call of Duty*, particularly on PC, as Activision has acknowledged. This has led some console players to disable crossplay entirely to avoid encounters with PC cheaters. The community's reaction has been mixed, with many PC players expressing frustration over the new changes.

Redditor exjr_ voiced a common sentiment, 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." Similarly, X / Twitter user @GKeepnclassy 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." Another user, @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 have called for Activision to improve its anti-cheat measures rather than segregating the player base. Redditor MailConsistent1344 suggested, "Maybe they should fix their anti-cheat instead of isolating PC players."

Activision has invested significantly in combating cheating, with recent successes in shutting down prominent cheat providers like Phantom Overlay and others ahead of the return of Verdansk to *Warzone*. Despite these efforts, the battle against cheating remains challenging. Activision has promised enhancements to its anti-cheat technology with the launch of Season 3, which could potentially alleviate some of the PC community's concerns.

However, many in the community believe that the majority of casual console players may remain unaware of these new settings, continuing to play with crossplay enabled by default. *Call of Duty* YouTuber TheXclusiveAce addressed the PC community's 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 will be crucial to monitor whether these changes significantly affect matchmaking times and how effectively Activision's ongoing efforts to combat cheating will be received by the community.