Highlights
- Skill-based matchmaking in Call of Duty disrupts casual play and leads to encounters with highly skilled players, defeating the purpose of Ranked Play modes.
- The egregious nature of SBMM often results in a decrease in player count after each release, as players become frustrated if they are not up for the competition.
- Inconsistent lobbies, with varying levels of competition, lead to players leaving or avoiding certain modes, affecting the overall enjoyment of the game. Adjustments to SBMM could make lobbies more tolerable.
For a large majority of players, the issues with the current state of Call of Duty titles lie within its skill-based matchmaking features, resulting in players being placed in the toughest lobbies due to good performance. With Ubisoft's XDefiant said to launch without this, fans of the FPS genre have looked toward this as a title that could stand as an alternative to Activision's franchise.
Despite this, the positive feedback from fans based on what has been showcased for the upcoming Modern Warfare 3 (2023) regarding movement, time-to-kill, and other fundamental changes, has left many wondering what this would mean for its skill-based matchmaking features. While it is already clear that the system will still be present on this occasion, it has not stopped fans from requesting major adjustments or its complete removal, in turn for an overhauled experience.
5 Casual Play For Players
For those who play Call of Duty entries less competitively and more with the intent of casual play, skill-based matchmaking directly disrupts as good performance leads to encounters with some of the most skilled players. While there are aspects to this that benefit the experience and can keep the idea of a challenging experience ongoing, it still defeats the purpose of the Ranked Play modes that are added for players of the highest skill.
Given the fact that this feature will be present, players will be hoping that it is far less egregious than it has been in previous titles, more notably Modern Warfare 2 (2022) and Vanguard. Aside from the Zombies experience that promises to be the biggest yet, there will still be worries regarding the base multiplayer experience, and how far skill-based matchmaking will affect it.
4 Consistent Player Count/Numbers
In conjunction with the issue of casual play, the egregious nature of SBMM in the eyes of many fans and streamers often leads to an instant decrease in player count after each release. It is felt that after at least one or two matches in multiplayer, this system comes into play which results in faster-paced matches, and if players are not up for the competition or not aptly skilled for the occasion, it results in frustration and a vast number of players stepping away.
Since it is unlikely for this to be completely omitted from Modern Warfare 3 (2023), fans will be hoping that it will be less effective and prevalent here, as this will contribute to retaining a high player count starting from the game's release. This will perfectly fit into all the other showcased features of the title, further taking the franchise back to what many of its fans' loved most.
3 Consistent Lobbies
As aforementioned, the constant jump between fast-paced and slow-paced lobbies in all Call of Duty titles has led to players leaving or completely avoiding certain lobbies and modes due to increased levels of unwanted and unwarranted competition. Given the different sizes of each map, which can either be a 6v6 or a 10v10 Moshpit, this can either make or break the enjoyment within each lobby, especially if the mode is 6v6 in a larger map, as players will find themselves searching for enemies for a while only to be suddenly eliminated.
Toning down SBMM in one form or another will potentially make some maps with small player numbers much more tolerable, as players will have a better fighting chance at longer ranges if the players they come up against are not too far above them in skill level.
2 Faster Ranking/Leveling Up
As SBMM affects a range of different aspects within the core multiplayer experience of Call of Duty, one of them is the rate at which players can rank up their prestige level, or the level of their weapons for new attachments. If players are put within tougher lobbies due to good performance within a previous one, it will more than likely result in a decreased kill count or more deaths than kills which does not benefit ranking up fast.
Aside from tokens such as double XP and the Zombies mode that can push weapon levels up without the need for competition against others, players will have to rely on their performance in each multiplayer match to get the attachments they want, and an adjustment to SBMM can make this a lot easier and forgiving for players.
1 Freedom In Play Style
Taking Modern Warfare 2 (2022) into account, issues with the fast time-to-kill made SBMM feel much more aggressive than normal, specifically for players who use tactical rifles or snipers. Whether long, medium, or short-range, the TTK in Modern Warfare 2 (2022) appeared to remain the same throughout, meaning that assault rifles or SMGs at long ranges would often still take the same amount of hits required to kill as it would at closer ranges.
For players who wish to use snipers or tactical rifles and become accustomed to them, this combined with SBMM can be frustrating, as other lobby members will easily outdo them, especially with weapons at their base levels. Since the TTK in Modern Warfare 3 (2023) has been adjusted, a change in SBMM alongside it would encourage players to play in different ways using different weapons.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 is set to release November 10, 2023 on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC.