The inclusion of skill-based matchmaking throughout Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War‘s multiplayer suite has some players up in arms, but Treyarch isn’t giving into the controversy. Ever since it was popularized on consoles in Halo 2, matchmaking has been a key part of any successful multiplayer experience. How any given game finds the appropriate players for each round is unique, with a mixture of ranking systems, player preferences, and (more recently) controller usage coming together to fill up lobbies. Matching players based on their skill seems like a natural fit for a competitive shooter like Call of Duty, but it has its proponents and its detractors.
When the alpha for Black Ops Cold War revealed a heavy reliance on skill-based matchmaking, a vocal group of players was upset by what they perceived as a change to Call of Duty tradition. Having matchmaking based on skill in more casual modes is seen as being easy on players who are newer to the experience, leading to scenarios where they can be stomped by a team of veterans ofter sailing through a few rounds. They would prefer more random matchmaking where players go through a “trial by fire” and learn their skills naturally.
However, the developers at Treyarch confirm that skill-based matching in Call of Duty is nothing new. It’s of course a major part of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and its Warzone spinoff too. It’s just not something they’ve advertised in the past. Treyarch Technology Fellow Martin Donlon responded to a few unfounded and factually incorrect tweets regarding the matchmaking, saying that “SBMM” is only one tunable variable in their matchmaking process. He also goes on to confirm that the feature has been in games as far back as the original Modern Warfare trilogy, even though detractors of skill-based matchmaking were holding up those games as examples of why the system is flawed.
Despite the refusal to move by developers, several prominent members of the Call of Duty community continue to rally around their stance against skill-based matchmaking. There’s a rather resilient message being copied by those against SBMM (and those who see it as a meme) that states that those like it lack “work ethic” and “confidence.” Others are complaining that highly skilled players will lose several rounds on purpose only to turn around and decimate a lobby of weaker players, or that players will be “sweating” (putting effort in) in casual game modes and make them less fun in the process. It is a complicated issue even if it has become overblown in this instance.
At the end of the day, players who pick up Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War know what kind of game they’re getting. It’s a competitive shooter in a long-running series, and there’s not a lot of room to just chill and enjoy the multiplayer aspects. At least one player in any given match is going to be trying their hardest, and general player skill rapidly rises as the game gets into the hands of the masses. It’s probably the right move to have a “casual” playlist somewhere in the selection, but who’s to say that the random players waiting there aren’t just as good as the players in every other mode?
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will be available on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC on November 13, 2020.
