Call of Duty Season 4's Ranked play in Warzone experiences setbacks: Server issues mar the unexpected debut, culminating in a rocky launch of Battle Royale.
Season 4 Launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone Marred by Technical Issues
Two days ago, the Season 4 update for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone was rolled out across all platforms. However, the latest iteration of the massively popular franchise from Microsoft-owned Activision has been plagued with a host of problems.
New seasons usually introduce a handful of bugs, but Season 4 appears to have caused significant issues for both Black Ops 6 and Warzone. The initial update brought instability issues for Call of Duty: Warzone, leaving players struggling to connect to the service. Within 24 hours of the launch, several features of the game were disabled due to performance problems. This included the ability to edit custom loadouts in the pre-match lobby in Warzone, Black Ops 6's theater mode, and traversal mechanics in Zombies.
As the team began investigating these problems, they disabled several game features, such as the Motherclucker blueprint for the ASG-82. Initially, Ranked Play for Black Ops 6 Multiplayer had been disabled during the launch of Season 3, but despite the ongoing Season 4 issues, the team re-enabled Ranked Play for multiplayer. However, plans for Ranked Play: Battle Royale for Warzone were delayed indefinitely, with the team citing the need to return the experience to its intended quality.
Throughout Friday, the team continued to issue updates to address the stability issues. A Friday evening update appeared to address the hitching and stability issues being reported in Warzone. In a subsequent social media post, the team announced that Ranked Play: Battle Royale would be launched shortly.
As of now, it remains unclear whether the delay of Ranked Play: Battle Royale or the other launch issues with Season 4 will impact the planned launch of Ranked Play: Resurgence Trios on Rebirth Island for Call of Duty: Warzone with the midseason refresh.
Issues Reported:- Multiplayer Lobby Malfunctions: Players encountered specific matchmaking issues, where lobbies were reportedly broken. Activision is working on a fix for this problem.- Warzone Solo Battle Royale Alterations: A significant change was made to the Warzone solo battle royale playlist, leading to confusion and frustration among solo players. Some community feedback suggests that "normal solos" have been replaced or altered, adversely affecting the casual solo player experience.- General Update Bugs: Additional bugs and glitches are present in both Black Ops 6 and Warzone, though these are not specified in detail in current reporting.
The official patch notes and blogs make no mention of Ranked Play: Battle Royale or Ranked Play: Resurgence Trios being delayed or removed due to the current issues. The most disruptive problems reported are related to general multiplayer matchmaking and solo battle royale playlists. However, given the ongoing matchmaking issues, it is possible that some disruptions could occur in matchmaking for new or existing ranked modes.
| Issue | Status/Impact ||------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|| Multiplayer lobby matchmaking | Broken; Activision working on a fix || Warzone solo battle royale mode changes | Altered; causing player confusion || Ranked Play modes | Not officially impacted as per notes |
In summary, while there are specific matchmaking and playlist issues affecting Season 4, the planned launch of Ranked Play: Battle Royale and Ranked Play: Resurgence Trios on Rebirth Island is, to the best of current information, not affected. Any general matchmaking disruptions could have indirect effects, but these are not targeted issues for the ranked modes.
- The instability issues affecting Call of Duty: Warzone, part of the Season 4 update from Microsoft-owned Activision, have disrupted the connection for several players, hindering their gaming experience.
- Despite the ongoing problems with Season 4, an update from Microsoft's team has recently launched Ranked Play for multiplayer in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, although the plan for Ranked Play: Battle Royale in Warzone remains delayed.
- Although Warzone players have reported changes to the solo battle royale playlist, leading to confusion, these changes have not been officially confirmed to impact Ranked Play modes, including the planned Ranked Play: Resurgence Trios on Rebirth Island.
