Is Warzone ready to release Ranked Play with Season 1 Reloaded update? Possibilities explored

Modified Dec 02, 2024 14:51 GMT

Two Golden Masked Operators looking at the game — Warzone Ranked Play this soon might cause more harm than good for the Call of Duty series (Image via Activision)

According to the Season 1 roadmap, Warzone Ranked Play is set to release with the Season 1 Reloaded update. However, the blog post entailing the entire roadmap, does not discuss the actual release date. So, it could very well be released alongside the launch of the mid-season update or players might have to wait for a few weeks into the season for the Ranked Play playlist to appear.

That said, you can be certain that Warzone Ranked Play is joining the shooter with Season 1 Reloaded. But there's a question that remains unanswered—Are developers ready to release Ranked Play for the battle royale title?

This is one of the most frequently discussed topics on social media platforms and the reason for it is quite simple - cheaters.

Should Warzone Ranked Play be released with Season 1 Reloaded?

Many fans in the community are skeptical about the upcoming Warzone Ranked Play release with Season 1 Reloaded, and rightfully so. A few might wonder why that is the case, and as we've mentioned earlier, it's due to the presence of cheaters.

The Black Ops 6 Ranked Play playlist arrived in the game during Season 1 and fans were certainly excited. However, their experience quickly turned sour, as cheaters infiltrated Ranked Play, making it almost impossible for legit players to play a fair game. This led to a major outcry, with professional Call of Duty players and a lot of content creators raising the issue.

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Soon, the shooter was hit with a ban wave, restricting over 19,000 accounts from playing the game. However, that too posed a problem as many innocent players got shadowbanned while actual cheaters ran rampant. Now, you might wonder why that could be a problem for Warzone.

Simply put, Black Ops 6 is a paid game. You need to pay a hefty amount to access the game. Alternatively, you can play the game via Game Pass, which reduces the cost. But, irrespective of the platform, you must pay.

This acts as a gatekeeping mechanism that prevents cheaters from accessing the game for free. Moreover, if they do buy it, they always run the risk of getting banned and losing the money they had put into the game. Despite this gatekeeping, Black Ops 6 saw a massive surge of cheaters to the point where pro players were quitting the game.

Also read: Call of Duty developers respond to community backlash after cheaters swarmed Black Ops 6 Ranked Play

Now imagine this scenario with Warzone, which is completely free-to-play and available on all possible platforms. There is nothing to lose for the cheater here. If they get banned, they can just create another account and continue cheating in the game.

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So the possibility is, with Ranked Play joining Warzone with Season 1 Reloaded, we might see a worse scenario, where cheaters surge in numbers beyond what we saw with Black Ops 6 Ranked Play. Hence, although players are excited for it to arrive, just like Black Ops 6, things might quickly turn sour for everyone.

It is also worth noting here that cheaters are still in the game in huge numbers and with a competitive mode coming this soon, we might see this number skyrocket.

Hence, in my opinion, if the developers want to limit cheaters and make the mode work as intended, they must make sure that their anti-cheat doesn't only ban cheaters but prevents it from happening in the first place. Secondly, they must give players the ability to turn off crossplay. Most cheaters are on PC so turning off crossplay for console players will ensure a better experience for the vast majority.

If that is not an option, they should delay the launch of Warzone Ranked Play and address the already existing issues so that fans aren't disappointed and the shooter's legacy isn't tarnished.

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Edited by Shraman Mitra