Call Of Duty Still Uses Skill-Based Matchmaking For A Pretty Simple Reason
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Activision is shining some light on how it approaches skill-based matchmaking in Call of Duty multiplayer, and in a detailed blog post, the developers of the popular FPS series reveal that the sometimes-controversial practice is still used for a fairly simple reason–fewer players quit under a skill-based system than they do without it.
The topic of skill-based matchmaking (or SBMM, as it’s often abbreviated) in Call of Duty has been a long and ongoing one, with some arguing that behind-the-scenes skill ratings that help determine who matches up with whom should be a thing of the past. Those against SBMM argue that since there are ranked playlists, those who want to be matched with players of equal skill can simply play there, leaving the rest of the game’s modes open to a more luck-of-the-draw-type of matchmaking experience.
From the blog post, it doesn’t seem like Call of Duty will ditch SBMM any time soon, largely because the developers have revealed they have solid data on the effects doing so would have on the game. In a test conducted with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 where one group of players played with the current SBMM rules and another group that played under “loosened skill consideration,” the developers found that the group playing with a wider skill gap were “more likely to quit matches in progress and did not return to the game at a higher rate than players with unchanged matchmaking.”
