Activision gives Call of Duty stat-tracking website until Monday to shut down – or else

Activision has ordered Call of Duty stat-tracking site SBMMWarzone.com to shut the website down by Monday, or risk facing legal action from the publisher.

SBMM Warzone has made headlines as an infamous tool that casual and professional players of Call of Duty Warzone alike use to track their stats and get into the most ideal lobbies.

It became fairly infamous thanks to players using it to gauge the skills of other players in a given lobby, and dropping then dropping out of the game before it began if things didn't look promising for them. Pros, including JaredFPS from esports organization XSET, said on Twitter that it “ruins the game completely.”

Now, as per a letter received by Eurogamer, the Belgium-based co-creators of SBMM Warzone have outlined that Activision has sent a cease and desist demanding the website be shut down.

"The lawyers claim SBMM Warzone violates Activision's API terms of use, infringes Activision's copyright, violates the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and exposes SBMM Warzone's creators to fines under GDPR," says Eurogamer, suggesting that the publisher is really taking this matter seriously.

For a quick rundown of how SBMM Warzone works, you just need to know that the site uses the Call of Duty API to acquire player data (such as information pertaining to kills, deaths, number of wins, a list of the player's matches, and the details of a match) and list it on the site – showing off information that Activision would much rather keep to itself for its own use, it seems.

Eurogamer has run a huge interview with one of the site's creators, Ben, which is absolutely worth reading if you want some insight into the thorny issues underpinning Activision's battle with the site.

In the interview, the co-founder tells Eurogamer that if SBMM Warzone website is to be shut down, any users that paid money for the service would be able to claim a refund.