Call of Duty devs have revealed why they won't turn off SBMM

If you’ve spent any time playing a game online in the past few years you’ve probably heard the term ‘SBMM’, an acronym for ‘skill based matchmaking’. When it works, it’s a brilliant concept for matching players of the same skill level, however, it can also make games more of a grind and take away some of the fun for players with higher skill levels.

SBMM is a point of contention, mostly in the world of content creation. These are players who spend eight hours a day grinding games like Call of Duty and have developed a high skill level.

They don’t like SBMM because it means they don’t often get a game where they can frag out and have fun.

SBMM is a contentious issue across the Call of Duty player base.

In a new blogpost, the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 developers have spoken on the issue of SBMM saying they have “run tests over the years to determine if removing skill as a consideration from matchmaking makes sense. We will continue to launch these tests periodically. To date, the data remains consistent with what we have detailed above – players tend to quit matches or stop playing if they're getting blown out, resulting in a negative overall experience for all players in the lobby and the general player population.”

On the whole, the majority of players are happy with SBMM being included in their games. Especially those who can only play for an hour or two per day - they don’t want to be rolled in every game as it stops being fun. There isn’t really a happy compromise; some say that unranked gameplay shouldn’t feature SBMM as it’s supposed to be random and those who want their skills compared should play ranked where available. Though players then come up against sweaty players who want to achieve those high ranks and that can also remove the element of fun. It’s a sticky situation, still.