- Activision has taken down the PC version of Call of Duty: World War II from the Microsoft Store and the Game Pass catalog.
- The move comes in response to reports of RCE exploits that allowed hackers to remotely hijack the players' PCs.
- It's unclear when and if the game plans on returning to the PC Game Pass service anytime soon.
Following a troubled Xbox Game Pass release that was marred by hacking issues, Activision has officially taken down the PC version of Call of Duty: World War II. The action was reported by the Call of Duty Updates account on X, which stated that the game was brought offline to “investigate reports of an issue.”
The “issue” in question is widespread RCE exploits that allowed hackers to hijack PCs. Many online games have been vulnerable to these hacks in the past, including multiple Call of Duty titles. In fact, it’s well-known within the CoD community that the franchise’s older games are infested with hackers, with World War II being a prime example. This meant that thousands of players who flooded the game’s servers after it was added to the Game Pass catalog were greeted by invasive exploits instead of warm nostalgia.
It’s worth noting that the take-down is limited to the Microsoft Store and the Xbox PC app, meaning World War II is still playable via Steam. Activision has yet to confirm the official reason behind the outage or reveal a date for the game’s return.
Nevertheless, the problem could potentially damage Microsoft’s plans of adding the Call of Duty catalog to Game Pass, since players will be wary of accessing games via the subscription service for fear of similar issues.
It certainly doesn’t help that the latest Call of Duty release, Black Ops 6, is also plagued by hackers, although their malpractices are typically limited to the game’s Ranked mode. Matters hit a breaking point during Season 1, where the hacking issues ran so rampant that they caused a significant decline in player counts. This prompted Activision to announce some fundamental changes to the RICOCHET anti-cheat system, but the move failed to soothe player concerns.
It all paints a dire picture for the franchise’s well-established hacking troubles, and it remains to be seen if Activision can prevent another WWII-esque Game Pass disaster in the future. With that said, have you ever come across hackers in a Call of Duty game? Be sure to let us know in the comments.
