Many players criticize the matchmaking of Call of Duty. A developer explained why the system is important for the survival of the game.
What is this SBMM anyway? SBMM stands for Skill-based Matchmaking. It describes a matchmaking system that selects your teammates and opponents based on your skill and gameplay performance. The better you play, the stronger your opponents will be.
The matchmaking in Call of Duty has been a much-discussed topic in the Call of Duty community for years. Some find SBMM good because it prevents them from playing against significantly better players. Others criticize the system because it means they can no longer play relaxed matches and must give their best in every game.
An unfair system that punishes good players
Who is the developer? Industry insider Tom Henderson spoke in an interview with former “Call of Duty” developer Charlie Olson (via Insider Gaming). Olson worked at Raven Software for 6.5 years before moving to Machine Games in 2020. At Raven Software, he worked, among other things, on the algorithm for the matchmaking rating (MMR).
What does the developer say? Olson explains that it is true when Activision and other companies say that SBMM is important to keep players from quitting a game. He found this out through analyses he conducted during his time at Call of Duty.
According to Olson, about 50% of players would stop playing a game if it doesn’t have SBMM. The problem is: worse players don’t like being dominated, and good players don’t like having to carry the entire team all the time.
However, Olson understands that specifically good players are frustrated by SBMM and that there is room for improvement:
„The big problem with SBMM is, however, that you no longer know what league you are playing in. SBMM takes away the sense of skill and ability. There is less feedback on abilities, statistics are not as important, KD is less a bragging right; it is really a serious design problem.”
Olson elaborates that SBMM punishes good players and therefore it is an unfair system: “When you try to get better at the game, SBMM only rewards you with tougher opponents. I would even say that SBMM punishes players for being good. That’s unfair, and players have the right to complain about it.”
A possible solution to address this unfair feeling among better players is, according to Olson, to introduce some kind of reward system. Players who play in lobbies with a higher skill level would then receive more experience points for the round, for example.
Without SBMM, many players lose interest – like in XDefiant
Why could a game without SBMM die? Already in December 2024, Olson stated to the Danish magazine Arkaden that the absence of SBMM could have played a role in the rapid death of Ubisoft’s CoD competitor XDefiant:
I would say that XDefiant did not have SBMM data available to look at. Otherwise, they would have changed course. They should have kept that door open. I don’t know if that would have saved the game, but it’s not out of the question.
As for XDefiant and SBMM, without [more detailed investigations], it would be difficult to quantify how things would have been different with SBMM, but what we do know for sure is that they did not give themselves the best chances of success. It was a mistake not to include SBMM due to ignorance about how and why SBMM works.
Olson via arkaden.dk
While Olson says that Call of Duty might have too strict of an SBMM, the solution is not to completely remove the system. You would lose many low-skill players, which would lead to a cascading effect.
However, there are other factors that could have contributed to the premature shutdown of XDefiant. MeinMMO editor Dariusz has taken a closer look at the case of the arena shooter: From 8 million players in a week to shutdown after just one year – The case of the free CoD killer
