What Happened to Ranked Warzone on 'COD'? It's Literally a Skill Issue

While it may be a game, Call of Duty is serious business to many gamers. They spend time honing their skills and rising to the top of the ranks, taking pride in their abilities and the community they build.

But that progress and experience require the game to function as expected, which is what makes it so frustrating every time a feature goes down or glitches.

COD fans found themselves baffled on May 8, 2025, when Ranked Warzone was no longer playable. So what happened? Here's what we know about why Ranked Warzone went down and why players are so frustrated with the team behind the popular first-person shooter game.

In March 2020, Call of Duty servers added a hefty update, flush with an exciting new feature that fans would quickly dive into and become enamored with.

The feature, called Ranked Warzone, isn't a complete game addition with a storyline and adventure campaign, but it's a battle royale-style free series of maps that allows players to get their PvP jollies while enjoying the COD gameplay.

For years, Ranked Warzone dominated online multiplayer experiences, not losing its steam despite the aging platform having ample competition.

So when the Ranked Warzone feature went down on May 7 and 8, 2025, fans were baffled, frustrated, and more than a little angry. So what happened?

According to Game Rant, developers temporarily disabled Ranked Warzone due to what the outlet calls "issues involving Skill Rating," which make it unplayable. After a number of server disconnects and crashes, Raven Software is shutting it down to figure out what's going on and fix the glitches.

A number of players reported not receiving the appropriate Skill Rating after Ranked Play matches, so they're taking a look to see what's causing it and how to fix it.

No word yet on when it will be re-enabled.

While it's frustrating for players, it isn't entirely unexpected. The system has been plagued with issues since the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, and many players have called for them to figure out what's going on, according to Game Rant.

And this isn't even the first time that Ranked Warzone has been disabled.

In 2023, it was temporarily disabled while they worked on system issues for a different problem. On Reddit, frustrated players discussed the shutdown and called it "suspicious."

This time, the majority of the comments seem to be on TikTok, where a number of videos are drawing attention to the temporary shutdown.

One TikTok user acknowledged in a comment section that the shutdown was justified, writing, "I've been kicked every game not even getting [Skill Rating]."

Another blasted Raven for yet another glitch, writing, "$70 game not even playable btw." When they were reminded that Ranked Warzone is free, the player added that they meant they had bought Black Ops 6, which has been met with serious criticism since its release.

Just like in 2023, players seem prone to blame hackers and those who are gaming the system by running macros and programs to gain points and rank.

Hopefully, they all agree, it will be fixed and back up and running soon.