Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War confirmed on reddit that ranked matches are still planned. The news spread quickly and players are directly demanding: “Remove SBMM and then bring Ranked – we don’t need either.”
What’s it about? In the Call of Duty community, skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) is one of the major controversial topics. Many players feel disadvantaged by this system and prefer a matchmaking that focuses more on player connectivity rather than highlighting the skills of the soldiers.
Furthermore, the developers hardly address this issue. So far, there has been no response from the CoD creators to the multitude of complaints and requests from the community. Thus, the SBMM topic has become one of the biggest controversies in Modern Warfare, Warzone, and also in Black Ops Cold War (The colleagues from GameStar reported).
Now the community manager Josh “FoxhoundFPS” Torres announced on reddit that the creators of Cold War are still working on a ranking system, which is expected to appear in the current CoD. The reactions on Twitter have been quite clear – if “Ranked Play” comes, SBMM should be restricted for the other playlists or disappear altogether.
Yes, Ranked Play will be a topic. However, I currently do not have a timeline that I can share with you.
CoD community manager Josh Torres on reddit in response to the question of whether Ranked Play is still a topic.
What are ranked matches? Unlike the normal playlists, you receive a “rank” (in English, rank) in this type of match. When you start a match, you only get opponents who are at a similar rank level as you.
These ranked modes are essentially the epitome of SBMM. If you play well, you rise in rank and get correspondingly better opponents and teammates in your matches. At the end of a season or a specific time period, your rank may yield rewards.
This kind of system has existed before in Call of Duty, but it’s not necessarily the rule. Ranked modes are particularly interesting for more experienced players looking for a challenge.
So why are players demanding the removal of SBMM? With the introduction of a ranked mode that clearly compiles matches based on skill-based matchmaking, many commentators find it pointless for other modes to also consider your abilities as a matchmaking variable.
Even before the announcement, many CoD players called for SBMM to be completely removed from the normal modes or at least reduced. Some report experiences where they play one or two fun rounds and then suddenly find themselves in lobbies that are significantly more difficult.
According to the demands, CoD should either completely forgo this system in normal modes or bring about a better solution than the current one.
What are the reactions to the announcement like? Accordingly, the reactions are also falling. Under the tweet from the CoD news site “CharlieIntel” on Twitter, the comment with the most likes is: “First remove SBMM, then add Ranked. We don’t need either.” In fact, many of the comments on the news go in this direction:
- @_Vyrizz on Twitter: “Isn’t that already in normal matches without rank?”
- @A_nthonyyy43 on Twitter: “Huh? Aren’t we already playing ranked in at least every second match? If they don’t remove SBMM from the casual matches, there is no reason to bring this now.”
But it’s not just this that bothers many commentators. The timing is also incomprehensible to many:
- @GotherSZN on Twitter: “The game has a lifespan of one year and has already been on the market for 3 months. How can they not have a timeline yet?”
- @Gunslata on Twitter: “We don’t care if Ranked comes after half a year. Why can’t it be ready at launch?”
While there are also some positive comments regarding the recent news about ranked matches, many players take the news with a negative undertone. For many, the matchmaking issue is the major point of contention in the current CoD titles, and a mode based on SBMM is only at the top of a wish list for a few.
What do you think about ranked matches? Do you want such a thing back for CoD? Do you think that the SBMM issue will lose some momentum because of this?
