When fans booted up Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, they found an unexpected surprise in skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) being implemented into the matchmaking system. Although some leaks had suggested its return, Black Ops Cold War's Alpha is now receiving flak as some player perceptions shift due to a potentially unwanted system.
As fans tuned into the PlayStation 4 Black Ops Cold War Alpha they noticed that matchmaking was similar to Modern Warfare. With further investigation, it came out that Black Ops Cold War is using the same SBMM system.
The system has sparked some unrest among Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War fans, and many have taken their concerns to Twitter. Developers at Treyarch have jumped into the conversation, saying that SBMM has been part of previous titles at a lesser scale. Some fans, leakers, and content creators have argued against this, as many agree that SBMM is a poor matchmaking system.
The discussion draws a line between Strict SBMM and Limited SBMM. While the Modern Warfare and Black Ops Cold War systems operate on Strict SBMM, the previous Treyarch games only use it to a limited scale. As a tweakable parameter, SBMM influence over matchmaking protocols varies depending on developer preference.
Under Strict SBMM, fans are required to play with opponents that the computer believes are of equal skill. This is usually generated from a combination of match history, Kill/Death ratios, and overall win rates. Players who perform exceptionally well tend to get grouped into an upper-tier, while other players are left battling at lower levels. In concep, this system works well, but with hackers and varying tiers of skill, players have found it leads to very disorganized lobbies.
Limited SBMM creates a different environment, as it only slightly adjusts players' matchmaking status. While this does strive to pair higher tier players with reasonable competition, it typically does so in a way that does not interfere with the general matchmaking system.
Many fans believe the entire idea of SBMM should be removed from the Call of Duty franchise. Although its implementation is designed to aid low-skill players in finding easier lobbies, some fans on Twitter suggest that trial by fire is a more just means of improving. They argue that sometimes there will be skilled players in the lobby, which should drive fans to become better rather than simply giving up.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is set to release on November 13 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.