The mechanism that made this worse than a typical cheating problem was how thoroughly it punished players who did nothing wrong. Hackers entered Domination lobbies, manipulated PS4 save files, and farmed XP by repeatedly killing themselves with grenades, per Kotaku. So far, familiar enough. The nastier piece was what happened to anyone who fought back.

Killing a hacked player could dump a massive negative XP value onto the victim's account, pushing it below Level 1. Because Level 1 is the minimum threshold for matchmaking, that softlocked legitimate accounts out of multiplayer entirely, as Kotaku and Notebookcheck both reported yesterday. Players who had never done anything suspicious found themselves locked out of a game they'd purchased hours earlier.

The damage could also run in the opposite direction. A single kill against a hacked player could instantly push a legitimate account to max rank, wiping out whatever genuine progression had been earned. KitGuru reported yesterday that tools capable of adding or removing XP from other accounts were actively in circulation, alongside aimlock and ESP wallhacks. Hackers reportedly also gained permanent access to Pro Perks, skewing match balance on top of everything else, per MP1st.

The in-match experience reflected all of it. Kill feeds scrolled with grenade suicides the moment players spawned. Matches paused repeatedly to migrate hosts, then refilled with more exploiters who immediately ran the same loop. Players cycled in and out in rapid succession, per Kotaku and Notebookcheck. One player documented six consecutive unplayable matches across Domination and Ground War. Random disconnects added another layer of frustration for those who managed to stay connected, Notebookcheck noted.

Player reaction across Reddit and social media ranged from resignation to anger. "Part of me was afraid this was gonna happen. Another massive L for CoD," one Reddit user posted, per Kotaku. "6 games in a row unplayable… Ground War and Domination is ruined," said another. The sentiment captured the broader problem: these weren't edge cases or isolated reports, but the default experience in public matchmaking.

Before launch, Activision confirmed the re-releases would run on completely new servers, per MP1st. Four days after release, the lobbies were overrun. Because outlets report that the exploit involves PS4 save-file manipulation, a server-side fix could only address part of the problem the cheat itself operates on the client side, where new server infrastructure has no reach.

That distinction matters for understanding why the ports shipped into this situation at all. Similar exploit methods had been documented for years across the original console and PC versions of these same games. KitGuru argued yesterday that the outcome was "entirely predictable" given that the re-releases arrived with outdated anti-cheat systems against techniques that were already well understood. The exploits didn't emerge because hackers found something new they dusted off methods that had worked for years and applied them to a fresh player pool.

The pricing made the failure harder to absorb. The ports launched at $40 per title, with no DLC maps included and no quality-of-life improvements, per Kotaku. Buyers paid full premium-port pricing for titles that couldn't reliably support public multiplayer within days of release. As KitGuru observed, legitimate players were spending $40 on games that couldn't really be played outside of private lobbies with friends which is not what the marketing implied.

One element the ports did get right: crossplay works between PS4 and PS5, contrary to some earlier reports, per MP1st. Players who own DLC can also matchmake with those who don't. Those are functional improvements, even if they're overshadowed by the exploit situation.

Activision's first response, confirmed yesterday by Kotaku, was to pull select playlists while it investigated. That removed the worst-affected modes but also cut off players who had done nothing wrong collateral restriction on top of collateral damage.

Today's update went further. Activision and developer Iron Galaxy pushed a server-side playlist update, returned Domination with updated parameters, and reset accounts stuck at negative XP to Level 20, restoring their ability to queue for matches, per GamesRadar+ and MP1st. For players who were softlocked, that's the most immediately meaningful part: they can matchmake again.

What the fix leaves unaddressed is more consequential for anyone thinking long-term. Activision has not confirmed whether every affected account was identified and restored, whether players who lost unlocks during the exploit window have any path to recovering them, or whether the save-file manipulation method has been blocked or only its worst visible symptoms managed. Activision has committed to additional mitigations in future updates, per MP1st, but has not publicly provided a timeline or technical specifics on the underlying vulnerability.

For players heading back into public lobbies now, the warning signs flagged before the fix dropped remain worth knowing. MP1st and KitGuru both identified three clear signals: a max-rank player present at match start, grenade suicides scrolling through the kill feed in the opening seconds, and rapid join/leave churn from multiple players. Any one of those is reason enough to leave before risking an XP hit.

The most urgent damage has been addressed. Domination is back, softlocked accounts can play again, and the active playlist chaos has been dialed down. For owners who simply want to get into matches, public lobbies are more accessible today than they were 48 hours ago.

The open question is whether Activision's promised follow-up mitigations will close the save-file manipulation path or just continue managing its symptoms disabling playlists when exploitation spikes, then re-enabling them when the pressure eases. Those are very different outcomes, and the distinction will determine whether these ports can actually deliver the public multiplayer experience buyers paid for. KitGuru put the structural problem plainly: without genuine anti-cheat upgrades, a viable multiplayer experience remains out of reach. Phase one answered the most urgent question. That one is still open.