Call of Duty: Warzone app changed after players used it to game SBMM
People were using the software to drop out of matches when it looked like they might lose.
The creator of an unofficial Call of Duty: Warzone app that gives users detailed info about the people they're playing against has made some tweaks after it emerged that folks were using it in unintended ways.
Speaking to Eurogamer, the owner of Warzone Companion developer COD Stats, Dmitry Shymko, said that a patch had been rolled out to the application that limits some of the information it displays.
The software shows stats including kill/death ratio as well as whether someone might be a cheater. Previously, K/D information was shown at the beginning of a match, with some users taking advantage of this data to back out of lobbies where they were at a disadvantage.
Warzone Companion came under fire from names in the streaming community, including JaredFPS from esports organisation XSET, who said on Twitter that it "ruins the game completely."
Now, thanks to some tweaks made on January 4, K/D details are only displayed after pre-match warmups, but it's now not possible to report potential cheaters in-game.
"Cheaters are one of the worst problems of Warzone and online gaming overall. We wanted to help the community and highlight those players that are having extremely high metrics in their previous matches and at the same time give an instrument for players to see that they just might die to the lucky shot," Shymko said.
"Also, such players can be spectated during the match more precisely so users can report them if they will detect real cheaters. The app also has a lot of features that will track player dynamics, every skill and will help him to get better.
"Still, by understanding the importance of discussion we decided to make a change in our app to cut the place for any kind of abuse. Information about lobby players will be shown only after the warm-up, and the average lobby K/D value will be displayed only at the end of the match and the average lobby K/D value will be displayed only at the end of the match. These changes were already implemented in our app today."