‘Park The Bus’ tactic causes controversy at Call of Duty League Major I

Defense is the best form of attack in the Call of Duty League Major I, as the new Overload game mode is being ravaged by a controversial tactic that ‘parks the bus’ and brings the proceedings to a halt.

It’s the equivalent of taking the knee in the final downs, but on steroids. Park the bus has been adopted in soccer as the ultimate salemate causer.

With objectives in favour of one team, it involves one team deploying an all-out defense strategy. Sitting in their own spawn, protecting the goals at all costs. Ensuring any dead enemies need to spend precious seconds crossing the entire map to have another shot at taking them down from power positions.

Now, it’s being adopted in the Call of Duty game mode Overload, and it’s a worrying sign for Ranked players.

‘Park the Bus’ Takes Over Call of Duty League Major I

Competitive Call of Duty has been searching for a solid third game mode, to join Hardpoint and Search and Destroy, for the better part of a decade, ever since Uplink was left in the Jet Pack era.

This year, Overload replaced Control to add chaos and speed to the ranks, rather than the method and strategy. For the most part, it’s been a warm welcome.

That is, until people decided that opening up a winning margin is enough to put the brakes on, park the bus, and keep the objective as far away from the opposition as possible.

POV: You’re up multiple points in Overload pic.twitter.com/WL9fopjikX

— CDL Intel (@intelCDL) January 24, 2026

Popularised in the qualifiers, Miami Heretics deployed it during their game versus Toronto KOI. Keeping the Overload objective in their spawn on Exposure, winning them the tie in a somewhat cheesy manner.

FaZe Vegas then did the same to LA Thieves in their Overload matchup, albeit with a few hairy moments, and won their map comfortably.

While the system has its benefits and is a completely valid way of playing, the entertainment value collapses. The mode is being nullified after the smallest of winning margins are opened.

Players Want a Rule Change Before Black Ops 7 Ranked

It’s a tactic ingrained in Call of Duty folklore, though.

Way back in 2012, on Capture the Flag, teams would simply hold their objectives behind the deepest headglitches on the map Slums, making it almost impossible to score points.

It reared its head in Modern Warfare 2 with Control too. Teams would give up one of the objective points and sit the entire team behind major chokepoints, knowing that they had enough lives spare to win, if only they camped hard enough.

So, how do you solve it?

Well, in professional play, teams have discussed banning the tactic through the ‘Gentleman’s Agreement’, which recently affected Search and Destroy with a limited use of snipers. The handshake system would mean teams wouldn’t use the tactic or face being blacklisted and exempt from scrims.

But that doesn’t solve the problem for Ranked Play, which launches on February 5. Instead, players are calling for an in-game change to the rules.

“They need to make it so that you have 30 seconds to clear the device past your scoring zones or the device carrier dies, and the device resets,” one player suggested on X (previously Twitter).

“Or reduce the round time, and the timer stops when someone has the device,” they added.

The latter suggestion appears to be popular, with it being echoed across social media, in the hope that the developers implement a change.

Other options include removing the ability for the device holder to also hold and shoot their gun, as Uplink did. Or creating dead zones that the device carrier cannot go back past.

Typically, Treyarch is renowned for being a competitive-first developer, which will give fans faith that a fix could come very soon. Or else Black Ops 7 Ranked and the Call of Duty League is set for a very perilous experience when Overload comes on the screens.