The Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War beta already has some cheaters

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And console players are once again turning off crossplay to avoid them.

(Image credit: Activision)

It's incredibly embarrassing. We get invited to play some Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War with our buds on their consoles, and what do we do? We infect them with lice. Yep, a new Call of Duty means that once again scoundrels using hacks on PC are ruining it for everyone. 

The Cold War beta is open to all at the moment, and has been extended until October 20, but this opening of the floodgates has allowed the cheaters to experiment with disruptive behavior before the game's even released. There's quite a bit of footage of hacks in action doing the rounds already, and as Eurogamer's noted, console players are responding by turning off crossplay. 

The MOST blatant and ridiculous aim hack I've EVER seen in a video game 😂 from r/blackopscoldwar

Crossplay is great. It keeps populations up, improves skill-based matchmaking, breaks down arbitrary platform barriers, and it's something loads of people have passionately advocated for—especially when Sony dug its heels in—so it sucks to see it undone by the presence of a comparatively small number of killjoys. It happened in Modern Warfare as well. 

Once the beta ends tomorrow, everything will be wiped clean, making it even more pointless. It's not a shortcut to progression, because there is no meaningful progression, leaderboards or any kind of glory. While no doubt frustrating, however, this will hopefully give Treyarch a better idea of what it needs to prepare for when Cold War launches on November 13. 

Fraser Brown
Fraser Brown
Online Editor

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog. 

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