Published , by Donovan Erskine
Published , by Donovan Erskine
The latest game in the CoD franchise is out, as Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is available now worldwide. With Treyarch back in the driver’s seat, this game takes us back to one of the most beloved subseries within Call of Duty. Treyarch has added a number of improvements to provide a smoother player experience in Black Ops Cold War. This includes a brand new feature aimed directly at streamers and stream sniping.
A new feature in Black Ops Cold War will help streams deter other players from stream sniping them. For those unfamiliar, stream sniping is when a viewer tries to line up their matchmaking with a streamer, attempting to get into the same match as them. If successful, the player then goes directly to the streamer's location, and then griefs them. This could mean killing them, dropping loot, or just drawing unwanted attention. It’s an issue that plagues most online games for popular streamers.
In Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, players can now turn on a matchmaking timer delay. The timer will begin counting, but it won’t actually start looking for a match until a specified point in the count. It’s a sneaky way to throw off any viewers looking to queue for matchmaking at the same time as a streamer. While it won’t erase stream snipers entirely, it will certainly make it much more difficult.
Stream sniping has become a bigger and bigger issue as Twitch and YouTube become go-to destinations for video game entertainment. We’ve seen Epic Games institute the same matchmaking delay in Fortnite to combat streamers as well. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is available now on PC, as well as both current and last-gen consoles.