What is SBMM in Call of Duty: Lets take a look as to why for Skill Based Match Making or SBMM is so controversial and why the pros are against it.
Treyarch Studios announced the PS4 exclusive release Call of Duty: Cold War Alpha on September 17th. It is a test run as the launch date of the game draws near. Fans and gamers were of course dying to try their hand and have a test of the latest addition to the franchise. Initial reactions were fairly positive, however certain professional Call of Duty players have voiced their opinions on the match making service.
What is Skill Based Match Making –
SBMM stands for Skill Based Match Making, it’s a type of algorithm that puts people into lobbies or similar skill. A lot of games have SBMM, in FPS games it’s usually in ranked modes as a way to compete against others of similar skill to earn a prestigious rank.
Why the cause for concern –
The current consensus is the game is being ruined by a skill Based algorithm that doesn’t need to be in a public game type, it’s causing players to play less, leave the game for longer or just altogether stop playing. Smurfs accounts are also on the rise. The players stats don’t matter and stats are very important for the community. Players do win more games but there is a concern that they don’t improve after being consistently matched with similar skill level players.
What the Pros had to say about it –
Chicago Huntsmen SMG and Call of Duty legend Seth ‘Scump’ Abner said in a tweet that the SBMM was “nuts” and he would like for it to be replaced. Fellow Pro player from team ROKKR – Attach said that he thinks SBMM doesn’t belong in CoD and he would rather see a Ranked Playlist. Ex-CoD World Champion JKap echoed his words.
The SBMM in Cold War is nuts.
— Seth Huntsmen (@scump) September 18, 2020
SBMM doesn’t belong in CoD
Just give us a good Ranked Playlist instead
— MN Attach (@Attach) September 19, 2020
Instead of ranked playlists, we’re just gonna get SBMM every year
— Jordan Kaplan (@JKap415) September 18, 2020
SBMM does not belong in Call of Duty causal playlists. It only needs to be active in a separate, ranked playlist.
— Call of Duty News (@charlieINTEL) September 19, 2020
With not even 2 days since the release, skill-based matchmaking is a controversial topic in this year’s Call of Duty. SBMM is very unpopular but game studios don’t budge and include it in their games. After the hue and cry in the community it remains to be seen how Treyarch responds.
