Stream sniping is a serious problem that almost every popular streamer playing multiplayer games has to learn to deal with. Whether it's on Twitch, Facebook, or YouTube, audience members will use information provided in a stream to get matched up against their favorite content creator. Call of Duty: Warzone is no different, but is particularly frustrating due to the strategic advantage stream snipers have over streamers. Raven Software is trying to address these issues with a new Streamer Mode Plus, which could be going out soon.
Speaking to the Call of Duty: Warzone community via the DiazBiffle Twitch channel, the battle royale's senior creative director Ted Timmins provided an update on the current state of Streamer Mode Plus. Streamer Mode Plus is currently in the hands of a limited few content creators, which Timmins says is necessary to collect feedback. This was always planned to be a beta, however, and Timmins says that due to the positive response that Raven could "consider rolling [Streamer Mode Plus] out to a wider content creator group."
That's not necessarily the kind of promise that content creators were hoping for, but it's better than nothing. Raven dedicating itself to expanding the availability of Streamer Mode Plus is a great thing. But in the end, content creators will still be waiting an indeterminate amount of time before Raven expands Streamer Mode Plus' availability. Still, it's better to hear Raven is evaluating the next step than to have heard nothing at all.
For those unfamiliar, Call of Duty: Warzone currently has a Streamer Mode that's available to all content creators. Streamer Mode hides other players' names, to obfuscate what match the content creator is in. However, determined stream snipers can still easily manage without names, prompting content creators to ask for more robust protections. That's what led to the development of Streamer Mode Plus.
Streamer Mode Plus not only hides other players' names while streaming, but also replaces the streamer's in-game name with random names. That way, players in matches can't tell whether a content creator is getting kills. There are likely other improvements, too, but the full range of features in the mode aren't entirely clear yet. Content creators definitely appear to be happy with the new mode, though.
Stream sniping will unfortunately always be a problem for major content creators on Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook. Those problems grow to become serious issues when stream sniping impacts massive tournaments with tens of thousands in prizes on the line. When improved features for countering stream snipers are only available to a limited few content creators, it also protects those few streamers more than others, which becomes an issue of competitive integrity. Suffice to say, Raven will hopefully roll out Streamer Mode Plus as soon as it's able.
Call of Duty: Warzone is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.