Warzone pros Symfuhny, TeeP & Jukeyz consider tourney boycotts until anti-cheat arrives

In light of ongoing struggles with hackers in Call of Duty: Warzone, some of the world’s best players — including Symfuhny, TeePee and Jukeyz — are considering tournament boycotts until Activision delivers a working anti-cheat.

Competitive integrity requires a fair playing field and that, especially among higher-skill lobbies, has not been the case in Activision’s battle royale. Despite numerous high-volume ban waves, Verdansk remains beset by cheaters using everything from wall hacks to aimbots.

For high-profile streamers, who also have the ever-looming nuisance of stream snipers to contend with, this situation can prove an infinitely frustrating one. Past playing casual matches, the frustration compounds when a cheater’s interference derails a chance at playing for money.

This has become the case for three of Warzone’s most renowned competitors, Mason ‘Symfuhny’ Lanier, Tyler ‘TeeP’ Polchow and Liam ‘Jukeyz’ James. All three sit in the top 15 among earners from Verdansk’s tournaments and seem to consider the relentless presence of cheaters as a principal reason why they’re no longer committed to competing in tourneys.

Symfuhny, one of the most successful Warzone streamers around, grew so disincentivized with the game that he began dipping into variety content. In December and January, he skipped tournaments, opting to play games like Rust instead, to the point that he couldn’t retain a spot in our top 7 players for the month.

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Having opted out of yet another big-bucks tournament (the $25K Code Red event), Sym explains precisely why he is “taking a break” from competing: “The amount of stress involved in the tournaments when there’s just cheaters left and right … it’s just not worth it.”

Jukeyz, a Warzone star despite playing in tournaments with rough ping from across the pond, did play in the $25K event — but then suggested he may no longer accept invites.

Citing a Warzone state of affairs derailed by cheating and stream snipers, the mechanically gifted competitor proffered that the community should “chalk all the tournament until something is done about it.”

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And, lastly, while TeeP also competed in the tournament — he cryptically suggested that it might be his last. In response, DougIsRaw explained why his teammate likely felt that way.

Hoping to add “some light” to TeeP’s cryptic statement, Doug referenced Sym’s decision not to compete and claimed that Warzone “is in a terrible spot and no one seems to be doing anything about it.”

With the last major ban wave against cheaters coming months ago at the end of September 2020, it’s clear that Verdansk’s finest are growing increasingly frustrated with the issues impacting their battlefield. It remains to be seen how quickly, or effectively, Activision intends on addressing these problems.