Drift0r Reveals Game-Altering CoD Bot Lobby Glitch
The age-old debate surrounding skill-based matchmaking in Call of Duty has once again reared its head. Yes, SBMM is one of the most controversial features to face multiplayer games in general, but when it comes to Activision's long-running shooter franchise, it's a serious point of contention. In particular, the battle royale bloodbath that is Call of Duty: Warzone has continued to come under fire for its use of SBMM and how you're paired with others.
Now, a CoD bot lobby glitch is doing the rounds and helping sneaky cheaters secure victory on Verdansk or Rebirth Island by bypassing Activision's stringent SBMM measures. We recently covered how the likes of Nick "NICKMERCS" Kolcheff were concerned by these so-called bot lobbies - that allow more experienced players to play with those of a lesser skill. It was all unsubstantiated rumours, however, YouTuber Drift0r has shown bot lobbies in action.
Call of Duty bot lobby glitch: How does it work?
Posting on YouTube, Drift0r showed how easy it was to enter a bot lobby - claiming he dropped into bot lobbies about two-thirds of the time. Even when Drift0r wasn't in a bot lobby, he said the cheat he uncovered let him into lobbies with a much lower skill than normal. Drift0r explained, "You’re not just removing skill-based matchmaking, but you’re actually going the other way, way back down into low K/D territory and getting very easy first time players that have no idea what’s going on".
Showing off the trick, Drift0r found a lobby where the median K/DA was just 0.72, which is far lower than you'd expect, and as Frift0r reminds us, "That's about as low as it's gonna get". He earned fifth place just by rushing and "reckless abandonment", so it's easy to imagine what it would look like if serious players managed to make the most of the bot lobby glitch. Although most of the players in these bot lobbies seemed clueless to what was going on, Drift0r said there were others that were very "sweaty" (tryhard) players - suggesting they were also there on purpose.
Call of Duty bot lobby glitch: Can everyone use it?
If you want to know how Drift0r used the bot lobby glitch, you're out of luck. Instead of making the most of it to his advantage, the noble player has instead turned his findings over to Activision in the hopes it can be stopped in its tracks. Explaining why he wasn't going to reveal the tricks of the trade, Drift0r said, "The facts on this video are ‘dude, trust me bro,’ which is the worst kind of facts... If I show you the facts, I ruin my favourite game, I have to destroy something I love in order to show the truth, which is not a position I want to be in,".
Last month, Matthew "Nadeshot" Haag highlighted the issue of "reverse boosting" as a similar way to get into low-skilled lobbies. It came as developers clamped down on bot lobbies and started banning those accused of reverse boosting. Drift0r has said he doesn't want to get involved in the drama, but the suggestion is that the bot lobby glitch could be more widespread than we first thought. It sounds like a fundamental problem at the core of competitive CoD.
Unfortunately both Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call of Duty: Warzone are very much at the mercy of glitches and hacks. Love it or loathe it, we'd advise against trying to get around Activision's SBMM - unless you want to find yourselves in the firing line of the publisher's wrath.
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