Call of Duty reveals the secret behind SBMM

One of the major concerns of players with the recent Call of Duty games is SBMM or skill-based matchmaking. The surge in these complaints can be traced back to 2019, with the launch of Modern Warfare, and it continues to be a concern for fans even in 2024. Fans have been repeatedly demanding that the developers remove or tweak the SBMM system in their titles for a more casual experience but to no avail.

Recently, COD, through its official blog, addressed a lot of these concerns. This gave the community a closer look at how the system works, its origins, its plans with the system, and more.

What is SBMM or Skill-Based Matchmaking in Call of Duty games?

Simply put, SBMM in Call of Duty, is a matchmaking system that pits players of the same skill level against each other. For instance, a competitive player with good in-game stats is always pitted against another with a similar skill set. Likewise, a casual player with poor in-game stats will be facing enemies with a comparable level of skill.

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On paper, this appears to be a great way to matchmake. However, the truth couldn't be far from it. Players, irrespective of their skill levels in the Call of Duty games have been demanding the removal of SBMM and there are multiple reasons for these demands.

One of them is the fact that players with good stats are not able to enjoy a casual match anymore. Since SBMM matches players with similar skill sets, every game turns into a competitive match, and as a result, the casual gaming experience for them is lost. Over time, this causes fatigue and boredom, and they just tend to stop playing.

On the other hand, players with lower skill levels, will not get to experience lobbies with better players, and will always be stuck at their skill level, giving them no room to improve. These are just two of the many reasons why fans demand the removal of SBMM.

That said, these complaints are relatively new. As mentioned previously, the beginning of these complaints can be traced back to Modern Warfare 2019. Prior to that, no one complained about SBMM. However, Call of Duty claims that Modern Warfare 2019 wasn't the first game to implement the feature and SBMM has been a part of the series since 2007.

Also read: How to get Backstab Kills in Modern Warfare 3

Modern Warfare (2007) was the first game to implement SBMM in the Call of Duty series

According to Call of Duty, SBMM isn't a new system and has been in the series since Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007). However, complaints about SBMM were low to none back in the day and they only saw a rise with Modern Warfare 2019.

Skill-based matchmaking was introduced with COD 4 in 2007 (Image via Activision)

So what changed with Call of Duty in 2019? Although the developers have yet to explain the reasons for this, it might have something to do with a new feature that Modern Warfare introduced to the series - Crossplay.

Crossplay allows players on different platforms to play together in the same lobby. Oftentimes, a mouse and keyboard provide players a better control of their aim and movement over a controller. While Aim Assist helps controller players, the mouse and keyboard still reign supreme due to their precision.

Moreover, players on different platforms simply means they are using different sets of hardware. For PC users, it can mean some of the best possible experiences, which even the current-gen consoles cannot provide.

This can lead to discrepancies in the experiences of all players in a match. Even if we don't consider PCs, there will still exist discrepancies. For instance, a player on a PS4 will have poor framerates and higher input lag in a match, resulting in worse player performance when compared to someone on a PS5, who can run the game at up to 120 FPS and overall lower input lag.

Similarly, a highly skilled player with a controller might have a hard time competing against a medium-skilled player with a mouse and keyboard.

Since COD matchmaking considers input devices, it might be so that this resulted in an SBMM system that is way harsher for players to make up for the complexities that were introduced with crossplay.

Irrespective of these theories, the fact remains that the COD community hates the skill-based matchmaking system. So why isn't Call of Duty doing anything about it?

Check out the section below to learn more.

Why Call of Duty isn't removing SBMM from their games?

As mentioned previously, despite the complaints from the community, Call of Duty has yet to remove SBMM from their games. While fans assumed that developers were simply ignoring their demands, the truth actually is much deeper and is backed by studies.

Effect of SBMM on Call of Duty players' retention rate (Image via Activision)

They cite an example of a study conducted by them in Modern Warfare 3 (2023), which assessed players across North America. They found that when the matchmaking system was tweaked to allow players of wider skill gaps to play together, it resulted in increased match quit rates, and blowout matches, and users with low- to mid-skill levels did not return to the game.

On the other hand, when skill-based matchmaking was turned up a notch over the current value, it resulted in better player retention, lesser match quit rates, and fewer one-sided games. However, it negatively impacted the highly skilled players and as a result, Call of Duty will not be tweaking their SBMM system anytime soon nor are they removing it from their games.

If they did, it would result in players leaving the game, which would lead to a lower player pool, and ultimately leaving behind players only with a similar skill set.

For fans who are tired of the system, there is still some hope as the Call of Duty blog states that are considering a playlist with no skill-based matchmaking.

Call of Duty might be bringing a playlist with no SBMM

Call of Duty has disclosed that they considering creating a playlist where skill isn't a factor while matchmaking. Currently, their teams are actively exploring the varied prospects of this move. However, they claimed that based on their testing, the no-SBMM playlist wouldn't be appealing to low- and mid-skill level users and are highly unlikely to participate.

As a result, only highly skilled players will be joining the playlist. However, ultimately, it will lead to the same issues that they have been complaining about in matches with SBMM.

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Edited by Ritoban "Veloxi" Paul