Warzone app lets players cheat skill-based matchmaking
A new app has been released for Warzone on PC and gives players the ability to see live stats of all players in-game.
Update 1/5/21: The developers of the Warzone app have now made several changes, ensuring players can only see K/D’s of opponents after matches begin, among other overhauls. Full details here.
Original Article: The new Warzone companion app for PC, developed by COD Stats, gives players live stats of all Warzone games, destroying the competitive integrity of games and ruining kill race tournaments.
Typically, Warzone places players in games against other players by using a Skill Based Matchmaking algorithm (SBMM) to find similarly skilled players. For a 150 player battle royale, though, the matchmaking algorithm can only be so strict, which leads to varying lobbies of skill every time you join a new lobby.
For the top players, knowing information like the average K/D ratio of the lobby can be a huge advantage in games, especially in tournaments.
You can see the overlay in use in the video below from Call of Duty creator JaredFPS. In the video, he shows off all the features and expresses his concern for the effect this tool will have on the overall competitive integrity of the game.
Warzone, Forever Changed
This new companion allows players to see the stats of all opponents in each game, like K/D ratio, average placement, and score per minute. This allows players to surf lobbies until they find a relatively easier lobby in comparison to their normal games. For example, a player with a 2.0 K/D might get into games with a 1.5 overall K/D and use the tool to surf for lobbies with a 0.8 K/D average for an easier experience.
In addition to just stats, the tool also shows players suspected cheaters in games, which can result in false positives for extremely high skilled players. If this tool gains popularity among the hardcore community, many players may be false flagged and will have issues playing full, quality games.
As of now, it’s uncertain if this overlay is considered a cheat by Activision. If the app runs through the COD API, then it may not be flagged as a cheat due to the fact it does not actively read game memory for its data. If it does pull from the game’s memory or is deemed too advantageous, then it may be banned in the future.