When it comes to delivering a competitive experience in an FPS game, skill-based matchmaking is one of the most important components and one that has to be well-implemented. However, SBMM’s spread into the unranked lobbies of Call of Duty games has been one of the series most controversial talking points for a few years now. Well, if you’re one of those hoping to see it removed from the casual CoD experience in Black Ops 6 and beyond, keep dreaming, because Activision is back once again with a new post justifying its decision making.
Arguably the main reason for the debate around skill-based matchmaking in Call of Duty is largely down to how it can make casual lobbies feel super competitive and grindy for experienced players. Many understandably feel that unranked modes should not look at skill as a factor when putting players together – this is where you should come to warm up for (or chill out from) sweating it out in Ranked Play, where SBMM definitely should be. This has spiralled into a really big talking point across the last few FPS games in the series, but Activision has always stood firm.
In its latest white paper, which is the second it has produced on its matchmaking systems in the name of transparency, it uses 25 pages-worth of thrilling words and graphs to essentially say this: skill-based matchmaking is going nowhere, and player retention is better for it.
A lot of the information and claims it has already made are repeated here, but the main difference is that Activision has now been running tests in-game to provide data and prove that having SBMM in casual lobbies is positively affecting the game, both from its perspective and from the players’.
“We can see that loosening skill negatively impacts our ability to keep players interested in our game,” it says definitively. A large part of this is because without SBMM, lower-skilled players (who aren’t interested in pushing themselves to the limit in competitive modes) will end up facing more high-skilled players, which will no doubt result in fewer kills, more deaths, and more defeats. While most FPS fans can take the odd pasting on the chin, no one wants to play a game where it’s happening more often than not.
Those who want SBMM removed have long asked whether those with more experience and skill can just simply be exempt from this – leave the skill-based matchmaking to those newer players that need it to have a good experience. However, Activision has shut down this option. “Attempts to protect only the bottom 25% of players and allow for looser matchmaking for the remaining 75% of players also had clear negative effects on player counts in two weeks, with increased quit rates, and reductions in total hours played. Both of which are well established as negative indicators of self-reported ‘fun.’”
Despite the pages of data and justification, I already know that this isn’t going to change the minds of a lot of people in the Call of Duty community – a quick glance at some of the responses to this white paper on social media back that up. More white papers are to come, and I do commend Activision for putting the effort into them, but they’re largely falling on deaf ears.
For more, check out the best MW3 loadouts you can use in Season 5 right now, and take a look at what the new MW3 battle pass offers as well.
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