A former Call of Duty developer has called some claims the company made about matchmaking, and more specifically SBMM, “bullshit.”
On January 29, the Call of Duty team released a lengthy statement explaining the matchmaking system, detailing the importance of ping and connection, among other factors, when placing players into matches.
Of course, what most players wanted to know was the impact of actual player skill level on matchmaking and especially SBMM, with players of similar abilities pitted against each other rather than a diverse mix ranging from very good to very bad players.
And for the first time, after years of questions, CoD developers have finally answered, admitting that player skill and performance are, indeed, variables considered in the matchmaking process.
One key part of the release, however, attracted attention: “Call of Duty has historically considered player performance among other factors in our matchmaking process. Our work in this area dates back to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007).”
With the suggestion that SBMM has been present in CoD since some of its earliest days, many players have questioned the extent to which it has evolved over the years, although one former developer suggested it was there a huge “bullshit” .
Responding to the topic on social media, Brian Bright responded with two emojis, suggesting it wasn’t entirely true.
🐂💩
— Brian Bright (@BrianBright) January 30, 2024
Bright is a former lead designer at Infinity Ward, having worked on Call of Duty in some form from Modern Warfare 3 (2011) through 2019’s Modern Warfare.
Bright didn’t elaborate on his comment at all, but many took it as evidence that SBMM isn’t as old a game mechanic as the developers suggest.
This comment has certainly thrown a wrench into the mix, with Call of Duty players not knowing who to believe in this situation, but it’s clear that regardless of how SBMM has worked in the past, we’re not going to get rid of this feature anytime soon.
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