If anything, it's exposed some truths that were downplayed previously. At least that I've seen.
Back before crossplay was available on games such as this, one of the knocks on pc gaming was having to deal with cheaters. PC players always downplayed this, claiming that cheating on pc was actually a very rare occurrence.
The results have determined that, that was a lie. Now with crossplay fully enabled, it's easily observable that in fact... Cheating on pc is widespread and common. There's literally been times when the ratio of games with cheaters was roughly about 1 out of every 3 games played.
The other main claim was that the average m/kb player would destroy the average controller player. Aim assist or not.
As Maury would say once again... The results have determined that, that was a lie. The cream of the crop is dominated by m/kb players, but that consists of perhaps the top 5% of players. The rest are a mix of both. While crossplay is enabled, the games does attempt to pool m/kb players with others using the same input methods, and likewise with controller users. There are instances though where the last few spots to fill up a lobby may have players using a different input. M/kb players not being able to wholesale dominate those on controller has had some interesting results that most wouldn't have predicted though. Chief among them being some m/kb players crying foul regarding skill based matchmaking at a far higher rate. This is especially prevalent with M/kb youtubers believing that they'd easily get good content, as they'd often be facing helpless players on a controller. Once they found themselves not having the massive advantage they thought they would.... They began blaming skill based matchmaking for their lack of easy wins. The devs have tweaked the matchmaking formula a bit, but despite what they claim. It's clear that the majority of people who regularly complain about SBMM are m/kb users attempting to find easier lobbies. It's no coincidence that their number 2 complaint is that controller players have too much aim assist. Making it unfair for m/kb users.
While I wouldn't call it an outright failure, crossplay in COD is sort of a loss for both platforms. Mostly due to blatant cheating that goes unchecked by Activision. Consoles lose because they're now placed with those outside their walled garden. Perhaps the only benefit to paying for either XBL or PSN, was the relatively safe and cheater free environment it provided. Those people are still paying that fee, yet they're no longer able to fully enjoy that cheater free environment.
PC loses because crossplay really could've provided the perfect opportunity to demonstrate some of the benefits of playing on pc. Console users being able to mingle with pc players likely could've resulted in many console users switching over to pc. The widespread popularity of Warzone at just the right time when a new console generation starts with almost no new consoles available should've created a perfect storm of sorts. While there could've been a world where there was a surge of gamers moving from console to pc... Cheaters prevented any chance of that being the case anytime soon. Unless their objective is to cheat. Console players are likely to want nothing to do with crossplay with pc players in games such as this. For millions of console users playing Warzone. Any credibility pc hoped to have as a viable platform is gone. It's unfortunate, but hopefully pushes the importance of anticheat software even further to the forefront.
