If you’re trying to launch Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (or any other Call of Duty game) and experiencing crashes, you’re not alone. The issue I encountered was with the Battle.net launcher, but similar problems could happen with other launchers like Steam.
The Problem: Game Won’t Launch
When attempting to start the game, the blue “Play” button would change to “Play Now” and then revert to “Play” without actually launching the game. After multiple attempts, a prompt appeared asking whether I wanted to run the game in Safe Mode. While Safe Mode sometimes worked, it often crashed immediately. Other times, the Safe Mode window would flash for a second before disappearing.
The Usual Fixes Didn’t Help
Like most players, I went through the usual troubleshooting steps:
Verified game files
Updated Windows
Updated video drivers
Checked for any conflicting background applications
However, none of these solutions worked.
The Unexpected Culprit: ReWASD
The real answer was hiding in plain sight on my desktop: ReWASD.
For those unfamiliar, ReWASD is a remapping software that allows you to use off-brand gamepads by making them appear as standard controllers (such as Xbox, PlayStation, or Nintendo controllers). I used this software to ensure my controller was recognized by games that don’t natively support it.
However, Call of Duty’s anti-cheat system flagged ReWASD as a potential threat. Since ReWASD has macro capabilities that could be used to gain an unfair advantage, the anti-cheat software force-closed the game without any explanation.
The Fix: Uninstall and Reboot
As soon as I uninstalled ReWASD and rebooted my PC, the game launched without any issues. No more Safe Mode prompts, and no more crashes.
A Lack of Error Messages
One frustrating aspect of this issue is that the anti-cheat software doesn’t provide any error messages or warnings. Instead of alerting the user that ReWASD (or similar remapping software) is causing the game to crash, it simply force-closes the application. Even log files showed no clear indication of the issue.
Final Thoughts
If you’re experiencing unexplained Call of Duty crashes, consider whether you have any software that remaps your keyboard, gamepad, or mouse. Programs like ReWASD or similar macro-enabled software might be the reason. Uninstalling them and rebooting your system could be the simple fix you need.
It would be helpful if the anti-cheat system provided clearer feedback instead of closing the game silently. Until then, I hope this post saves some players from frustration and wasted troubleshooting time!