Summary
- Activision will allow console players to disable cross-play in Ranked Play in Season 2 of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone.
- Player count for Black Ops 6 has decreased by 50% on Steam, likely due to bugs and cheating issues in Ranked Play.
- Season 2 of Black Ops 6 and Warzone will introduce new Ranked Play features like a Vote to Forfeit option and the ability to rejoin matches.
Due to massive demand from players and the ongoing issues with cheaters, Activision has announced that Season 2 of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will give console players the ability to disable cross-play in Ranked Play. With the next season of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone right around the corner, Activision has addressed some of the game’s biggest issues in a lengthy blog post, detailing how it plans to tackle the many bugs, glitches, and hackers present in both titles.
At launch, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was a massive success for both publisher Activision and developer Treyarch Studios. Unfortunately, in the weeks after the game’s release, things don’t appear to have panned out as expected for the studios. Call of Duty’s player count has been on a rapid decline, losing 50% of players on Steam since the launch of Black Ops 6 in October 2024. While the never-ending list of bugs and server issues likely won’t have helped, the huge drop-off is speculated to be largely due to the game’s severe cheating issue in Ranked Play.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's Campaign Success Will Hopefully Lead to One Feature's Revival
The campaign of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is one of its most well-received aspects, hopefully heralding in the return of one recently absent feature.
Call of Duty Season 2 Bringing Big Ranked Play Feature to Black Ops 6 and Warzone
With Season 2 of Black Ops 6 and Warzone set for January 28, Activision has outlined how it intends to tackle a variety of issues in both titles, including hackers in Ranked Play. While the studio did outline some big improvements to the game’s anti-cheat system, it has also revealed that Season 2 will allow players to disable cross-play while in Ranked Play, a feature fans have been requesting for the past few weeks. This will, of course, only apply to console players and prevent them from matchmaking with PC players. Activision says the feature is currently in testing and is planned to go live for both Black Ops 6 and Warzone “during” Season 2, which implies it might not be available at launch.
The studio also outlined various other improvements for Black Ops 6 and Warzone Ranked Play during Season 2. At launch, a new Vote to Forfeit feature will be made available, allowing players to vote with their team to end a match early. Also being tested is the ability to rejoin Ranked Play matches, allowing for fuller teams if a player is disconnected during the match. Finally, there are brand-new rewards for Season 2, including camos for Gold rank and up, a Jackal PDW blueprint for 10 wins, and a Large Decal for 100 wins.
With so many bugs and glitches plaguing Warzone at the moment, fans are hopeful that this huge community update is the beginning of something great for both titles. Unfortunately, Activision did also reveal that Season 2 of Warzone will have less content than originally planned as the studio intends to prioritize new gameplay tuning, quality-of-life improvements, and bug fixes.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 83 /100 Critics Rec: 91%
- Released
- October 25, 2024
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Suggestive Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs
- Developer(s)
- Treyarch, Raven Software
- Publisher(s)
- Activision
- Engine
- IW 9.0
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- Yes - PlayStation, Xbox, PC
WHERE TO PLAY
Forced to go rogue. Hunted from within. This is Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
Developed by Treyarch and Raven, Black Ops 6 is a spy action thriller set in the early 90s, a period of transition and upheaval in global politics, characterized by the end of the Cold War and the rise of the United States as a single superpower. With a mind-bending narrative, and unbound by the rules of engagement, this is signature Black Ops.
The Black Ops 6 Campaign provides dynamic moment-to-moment gameplay that includes a variety of play spaces with blockbuster set pieces and action-packed moments, high-stakes heists, and cloak-and-dagger spy activity.
In a best-in-class Multiplayer experience, players will test their skills across 16 new maps at launch, including 12 core 6v6 maps and 4 Strike maps that can be played 2v2 or 6v6.
Black Ops 6 also marks the epic return of Round-Based Zombies, the fan-favorite mode where players will take down hordes of the undead in two brand-new maps at launch. Post-launch, players can look forward to even more exciting maps and groundbreaking experiences dropping into both Multiplayer and Zombies.
- Cross Save
- Yes - PlayStation, Xbox, PC
- Prequel(s)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: World at War
- Franchise
- Call of Duty
- Number of Players
- 1-4
- Split Screen Orientation
- Vertical or Horizontal
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unknown
- PC Release Date
- October 25, 2024
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- October 25, 2024
- PS5 Release Date
- October 25, 2024
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC
- Genre(s)
- FPS
- How Long To Beat
- 8 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
- File Size Xbox Series
- 216 GB (October 2024)
- Local Co-Op Support
- 1-2 Players
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
