Call of Duty got hacked so bad that Activision took it offline

Online multiplayer shooter Call of Duty might not be the 800-pound gorilla of the gaming industry that it once was, now that games like Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox have more players than the populations of most countries. But it’s still a pretty big deal, so when hackers manage to take down an entire game, it raises some eyebrows. Such is the case with Call of Duty: WWII.

The multiplayer portion of the game has been going strong since its release way back in 2017, or at least it was until last week. TechCrunch reports that the version of the game available on Game Pass and the Microsoft Store, a fresh release distinct from the console and Steam versions of the games, has been offline for days. An anonymous tipster tells the site that the game had been hacked, though the precise nature and severity of the problem isn’t known.

The Game Pass version of COD: WWII had been suffering from online cheaters since its release to the service. Which would be a problem in and of itself…but cheating in online games is hardly unprecedented, just ask anyone who’s tried to play Team Fortress 2 lately. The twist here is players on Reddit have been complaining about a remote code execution issue for online matches — essentially, playing the game could get your actual computer compromised and give attackers control of it. That, too, is unconfirmed at the moment.

Right now the Game Pass and Microsoft Store versions of the game remain closed for online play, while the Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation versions are still up and running. That’s something of a black eye for Microsoft, which owns Activision-Blizzard and has been bolstering its Game Pass subscription service with that massive back catalog of games.

It probably doesn’t help that tensions are high across the Microsoft corporate empire following thousands of layoffs, its fourth major round of firings in a year, allegedly to free up funds for yet more AI-focused spending.