The publisher Activision has asked the operators of a popular stats site for Call Of Duty: Warzone to close their site by March 29. They are now fighting for survival and mobilizing their community.
What happened? The site SBMM Warzone provides players with all sorts of statistics for CoD Warzone. Now the publisher Activision has contacted the operators of the website through their lawyers and given the instruction: The site must be shut down by Monday, March 29. The operators Ben and Dav announced this on Twitter.
What is the reason? SBMM apparently accesses systems of CoD Warzone. The publisher wants to prevent this. It states literally: “We cannot use their API.” The publisher seems to have concerns about data security, according to the creators of the site.
An API, or Application Programming Interface, is a set of rules that allow different software applications to communicate with each other. In this case, the Warzone API is responsible for collecting player data such as kills and wins.
What kind of site is this? SBMM Warzone is particularly popular among hardcore Warzone players. It provides extensive data for CoD players and gives insight into your number of eliminations and deaths. Since Warzone does not have its own leaderboard or ranked mode, many players use the site as a substitute. They also offer a kind of premium membership that allows access to even more precise data and additional benefits.
The operators are now trying to save the site at the last minute.
Creators seek partnership with Activision
How the site should stay online: On Twitter, the operators of SBMM are mobilizing their community. They hope to enter into a partnership with Activision so that they can continue with official approval: “We have tried to reach them multiple times. Anyone who works at Activision: Contact us!”
They want to try everything to keep the site running. This includes potential improvements, restrictions, or other adjustments to meet the requirements for a partnership.
If that fails, they will try everything to compensate premium members.
“Great” alternative for rankings in Warzone
How players are reacting: Under the call from the website operators, many players show disappointment. Well-known content creators like Vikkstar or Drift0r are also sad about the news. Vikkstar writes on Twitter: “I’m sorry this is happening, your site is a great tool, especially since Warzone doesn’t have its own ranked system. I intend to let Activision know this.”
Drift0r is also not pleased, but sees a possible rescue critically, since the news came from Activision’s lawyers. He writes on Twitter: “This is crap. You provide a great service. Unfortunately, […] it’s unlikely anyone [from Activision] can talk to you. The response will be from top to bottom: ‘We cannot comment on this, talk to the lawyers’ and that will be it.”
Some players doubt the API as the reason for the closure, however. They suspect that the offering of premium accounts could be an issue for Activision, as someone is making money with their API. However, these are just speculations; the publisher has not communicated anything of the sort. It remains to be seen what will happen with SBMM Warzone.
What do you think about the closure? Do you use the site for your own stats? Do you understand the reason for the closure? Let us know your opinion in the comments.
If you follow CoD Warzone, you might be interested in this: Is the AUG too strong for CoD Warzone? Pros call for a nerf
