For years, the main vice that Call of Duty players have harped on about has been the incredibly aggressive usage of skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) in the various shooter titles. The premise for the feature is a rather sound one, namely in that it matches you up with players of equal skill, but in practice it has been a horror story, as it has led to every single multiplayer game feeling like a competitive final in front of a live audience. This had led to a lot of frustration as fans struggle to enjoy the game, rather feeling as though they need to be insanely focussed to have a chance.
But despite years of asking for a change, Activision and the various Call of Duty developers have remained steadfast. There have been adjustments to the formula, but ultimately it has been used time and time again, including in the first beta for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, leading to even more frustration...
Now finally a change is happening. In a social media post, it's confirmed that for the launch of Black Ops 7, SBMM will not be utilised. The statement explains:
"Open Matchmaking confirmed.
"At launch, Open Matchmaking with minimal skill consideration will be the default matchmaking for #BlackOps7 MP.
"Our team is committed to providing players with a more varied experience, and the Beta was a valuable opportunity to test this approach."
It goes on further to add that lobby disbanding will be addressed too, so that teams remain together between matches, all while plans to tweak aim assist and aim assist strength on controllers are coming up too.
<social>https://x.com/Treyarch/status/1976286062545862763</social>
Pretty big and successful changes, don't you think? Strange that they are now finally being implemented just ahead of EA getting its affairs in order and debuting a very competent Battlefield... Is Activision worried about Black Ops 7 competing with Battlefield 6 this year?