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Activision’s Call of Duty series has been highly criticised by players for its reliance on skill-based matchmaking, an algorithm that attempts to balance multiplayer games to make sure players aren’t constantly losing — or winning — every match they play.
Most multiplayer games have a form of skill-based matchmaking. In fact, Ubisoft’s xDefiant boldly attempted to release without any SBMM, and look where that got them.
Call of Duty needs SBMM
In an interview with Insider Gaming, CoD’s Matchmaking Rating algorithm creator Charlie Olson explained that at least half of the modern Call of Duty audience would leave if skill-based matchmaking was removed from the game.
Olson explained that the common statement of “sometimes you stomp, sometimes you get stomped” doesn’t actually apply to every player. Instead, that only actually applies to around 40% with the top 10% of players still stomping through games.
As for why skill-based matchmaking exists, the answer is simple, and has been proven by modern games that don’t have it: “people don’t like being the weak link repeatedly and high-skill players don’t like carrying a team of potatoes all the time.”
Nevertheless, Olson explained that players don’t have to “just shut up and like SBMM” and that developers should be working to make the technology better. The veteran CoD developer explained that he had numerous ideas for improving the system that were turned down.
In one example, Olson explains that players should be able to “see something about the average skill of your lobby or opponents” and receive bonus XP for beating enemies that are higher in skill than them. This idea was pitched for Modern Warfare 2019, but was turned down.
Additionally, Olson explained that the mysterious nature of skill-based matchmaking makes it more annoying for players. Alongside the aggressive use of the feature in more recent CoD titles, the fact that players can’t see their own skill rating encourages online complaints.
“If you are trying to get better at the game, SBMM just rewards you with tougher opponents,” Olson explained. “I’d even say that SBMM punishes players for being good. That’s unfair, and players are right to complain about it.”
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