Modern Warfare fans upset as evidence suggests skill-based matchmaking

Evidence has been found that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare multiplayer will include skill-based matchmaking, and players are not happy about it in the least.

The first of two Beta weekends for Modern Warfare came to a close on September 16, after four days of access for those playing on the PlayStation 4.

While there was a variety of things discussed about the current build of the game, one of the topics that was brought up the most was skill-based matchmaking (SBMM).

SBMM is an in-game system that pits higher-skilled players against each, and player skill is determined by the trend of their performances in recent matches.

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This means that those who perform well throughout the course of several matches will be matched up against each other, and those who don’t put up good stats and results will end up facing lower caliber players. 

While SBMM has not been 100% officially confirmed to have existed in the Modern Warfare Beta, YouTuber ‘S0ur’ conducted an experiment on his own that yielded evidence suggesting there was something definitely there.

In a video he published on September 16, he demonstrated how intentionally playing bad and losing matches for five games in a row put him in a considerably weaker lobby for the sixth match, during which he tried to play normally and actually did really well.

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While that is not conclusive and irrefutable proof that Infinity Ward had implemented SBMM, the YouTuber did bring up an interview the developers had done with GameInformer in which they talked about potentially installing such a system for multiplayer.

“I know there was a GameInformer interview a couple of months ago where they talked about wanting to have SBMM in this game, but that they were also aware of not wanting to ruin the experience for the higher skilled group. They acknowledged that if it gets too sweaty, that isn’t fun.”

Judging by many of the comments on Infinity Ward’s Beta wrap-up Reddit post on September 16, that sentiment is also shared by a lot of players who don’t want there to be SBMM in multiplayer.

“I have decided to cancel my pre-order because SBMM defeats the whole purpose of CoD, in my opinion,” wrote ‘DazzledTad.’ “If I want to sweat, I already have Overwatch and Rainbow6 for that.”

“I may cancel the preorder if SBMM stays,” added ‘Lucky1ex1.’ “It’s unreal how bad it is for the longevity of the game. Nobody wants a sweat-fest every single game. I played on my son’s shitty account and it was unreal the difference that it makes. Random lobbies are better vs punishing better players for being better, it does not make it fun for us to be in a constant clan way.”