In a recent stream playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, popular streamer Dr Disrespect voiced his criticism regarding one of the most divisive features of the game, skill-based matchmaking, calling the feature “horrific.” Modern Warfare 2 had its second round of beta testing this weekend for all platforms, and rapidly SBMM became one of the game's biggest talking points.
Skill-based matchmaking, often abbreviated to SBMM, has been a point of contention among the Call of Duty community for quite some time. An SBMM system intends to pair players with others of equal skill levels to deliver a consistent experience where every game isn’t a huge loss or a huge victory. However, many in the community have reacted negatively to this system, often claiming that it has made recent Call of Duty titles difficult, boring, and too competitive. Despite community outcry, multiple Call of Duty developers claim the franchise has had SBMM since the original Modern Warfare in 2007.
Dr Disrespect, a prominent critic and former developer of the Call of Duty franchise, also has a distaste for SBMM. This weekend’s Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer beta opened up to all players, and the streamer found himself playing the game alongside FaZe Doozy and TimTheTatman, where the three were in agreement that SBMM is an overall detriment to the game. However, Dr Disrespect did have some good things to say about Modern Warfare 2, stating that he believes the game feels good, looks good, and appreciates its approach to weapons and attachments. But when it comes to skill-based matchmaking, the streamer says it is a “horrific” feature.
So far, Infinity Ward has not indicated that it plans to remove SBMM from Modern Warfare 2 when it releases later next month. If the recent Call of Duty games are anything to go by, Modern Warfare 2 will likely keep skill-based matchmaking for the entirety of its lifecycle. SBMM aside, Dr Disrespect does view multiple parts of the game in a good light despite being a frequent critic of the Call of Duty franchise. Given the franchise’s sales history, it’s clear that SBMM does very little to detract from other things fans like about the series. Outside of multiplayer, features like the campaign, DMZ, and Warzone 2 will likely propel Modern Warfare 2 to success alongside being a visually impressive and fluid game.
Despite many fans voicing their grievances about SBMM, there do exist multiple players that enjoy this matchmaking algorithm and even prefer it. Some state that SBMM makes each round more engaging as games are closer in score, and the lack of one-sidedness keeps the tension elevated from game to game. However, Call of Duty’s skill-based matchmaking system is still questionable in some regards, as most multiplayer games split the player pool between ranked and casual playlists, solving this long-standing issue. Whatever reasoning is behind why Infinity Ward won’t add separate playlists to the game is unknown, but it appears that SBMM is here to stay.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 launches on October 28 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.