With the launch of Season 3 this week, *Call of Duty: Black Ops 6* and *Warzone* are set to undergo significant changes that have sparked concerns within the PC gaming community, particularly regarding matchmaking queue times. Activision released the Season 3 patch notes, confirming a major overhaul to regular Multiplayer settings. The update separates Multiplayer Ranked Play and *Call of Duty: Warzone* Ranked Play, and introduces a new Multiplayer-only setting for Quickplay, Featured, and Party Games matches.
Starting April 4, players can choose from three distinct settings for these modes: Multiplayer Ranked Play, *Call of Duty: Warzone* Ranked Play, and Multiplayer Unranked. Each setting will come with customizable 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)" or "Off" may lead to increased matchmaking queue times, with "Off" being particularly detrimental. The introduction of console-only crossplay in regular Multiplayer has raised concerns among the PC community, who fear longer queue times due to console players opting out of crossplay to avoid PC cheaters.
Cheating remains a significant issue in *Call of Duty*, especially on PC platforms. Activision has acknowledged that cheating is more prevalent on PC and that console players often disable crossplay to mitigate this risk. This has led to frustration among PC players, who feel unfairly impacted by the new settings. Some have voiced their discontent on social media, with users like exjr_ on Reddit expressing a hope that queue times won't force them to switch to console gaming. Similarly, @GKeepnclassy on X (formerly Twitter) lamented that the change penalizes non-cheating PC players, while @CBBMack noted that existing matchmaking issues on PC might worsen.
PC players have called for improved anti-cheat measures from Activision, rather than separating player pools. Activision has indeed invested heavily in combating cheating, with recent successes against prominent cheat providers like Phantom Overlay. However, the battle against cheating continues to be challenging. With the return of Verdansk to *Warzone*, and the promise of enhanced anti-cheat technology in Season 3, it remains to be seen how these developments will affect the PC community.
Despite these changes, many console players might not utilize the new settings due to a lack of awareness. As *Call of Duty* YouTuber TheXclusiveAce pointed out, the majority of casual console players may not delve into patch notes or settings, opting instead to play unranked Multiplayer with default crossplay settings. This means that PC players are likely to still have access to a large player pool, while it's the console players who choose to enable console-only crossplay who might face longer queue times.
As Season 3 approaches for *Black Ops 6* and *Warzone*, it will be crucial to monitor how these changes impact matchmaking and the ongoing efforts to combat cheating in the game.
