MW3 devs failed to address SBMM in June and players are furious
Activision promised to explain further how Modern Warfare 3 skill-based matchmaking works in June. However, June came and went without a blog, infuriating the player base.
After years of silence on the topic, Activision finally gave players a look behind the curtain by detailing how matchmaking works in a thorough 18-page report in April 2024. The blog briefly explained how skill is part of the matchmaking process and confirmed more information would be released in June.
However, after the devs failed to deliver that promised blog Modern Warfare 3 players took their frustrations to Reddit.
In response to the white paper not getting released, one player joked, “someone should tell Activision that a white paper doesn’t literally mean just a blank piece of paper.”
Anger about skill-based matchmaking has only been amplified since the release of XDefiant. Despite being advertised as otherwise, the arena shooter is a direct competitor to Call of Duty and the new FPS title doesn’t use skill-based matchmaking.
Activision argued that skill-based matchmaking is valuable because players are likelier to quit matches or stop playing entirely if they consistently lose. For now, at least, XDefiant proved that retaining a strong player base is possible without skill-based matchmaking.
That led a second user to argue that Activision is overthinking it because “the fact that there are even white papers on matchmaking shows how convoluted matchmaking is. Just give us a good connection and random lobbies, and let people have some fun.”
Even if Activision won’t back down and remove skill-based matchmaking, players at least want more answers on how the system works. A third commenter asked, “Why can’t they just release all this info simultaneously? It’s not because they’re hiding anything, is it?”
Activision has yet to respond about missing the June window for releasing more information about Modern Warfare 3 skill-based matchmaking.