SypherPK explains why skill-based matchmaking ruined Fortnite

Twitch streamer and professional Fortnite player Ali ‘SypherPK’ Hassan has slammed the current meta of Epic Games’ building battle royale, explaining how skill-based matchmaking is ruining public matches.

As Fortnite approaches three years old, a host of its most prominent content creators are growing more critical of its current build. Among other things, Ninja has revealed he thinks it would benefit from incorporating CoD: Warzone features and bringing back the original Chapter One map.

The frustration has seen a number of Fortnite creators moving towards other games, such as Call of Duty’s acclaimed BR, Warzone. Going off comments made in his April 1 stream, it seems like SypherPK is among those being pushed towards other titles.

After dying to an opponent in a Fortnite public match, Sypher continued to spectate the enemy that vanquished him. He quickly realized that the player was hoarding materials, as well as playing incredibly defensively to try and secure the win.

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Prompted by his frustrations, Sypher began to criticize the current meta of Fortnite, facilitated by the controversial inclusion of skill-based matchmaking (SBMM): “With SBMM, if there’s not an aggressor in the game, aka someone who’s actually playing for kills, and not playing to win the World Cup, it always ends in a heal off.”

As he continued to spectate the player, Sypher’s frustrations grew. In a second clip, he blasted the inclusion of SBMM in public matches, and explained how it is affecting Fortnite.

“I hate SBMM so much,” he said. “I hate it so much. Not because of playing good players – because of the mentality and attitude that it promotes. Every pub game is like the World Cup qualifier.”

He went on to explain the boring and negative playstyles players use in order to win matches: “Just because I didn’t farm the entire game like this guy did,” he said. “For 999 metal, wood and brick, I get held against storm and get shot at by three or four different people – it’s f**king insane.”

After watching the player who killed him for a few minutes, the lobby did indeed finish in a ‘heal off’. However, the enemy that killed Sypher was then gunned down by the remaining player, whom Sypher cheered loudly and gifted subscribers to.

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While undoubtedly a funny moment, it relays a serious issue that many think Fortnite is suffering from at the moment.

SBMM is a controversial topic in a number of games, but many argue it should not be in normal public matches, particularly if a game – like Fortnite does – also boasts a dedicated ranked playlist.