SBMM, also known as Skill Based Matchmaking has been an ongoing topic in the community in every Call of Duty. If you're wondering how it works in Black Ops Cold War, some Youtubers might have the answer.
In every Call of Duty, players complain about SBMM or Skill Based Matchmaking. Especially better players and pros get annoyed that every match feels like the final of the World Championship. The defenders of SBMM hold against it and say that especially for the large number of casual players this kind of matchmaking is necessary because they don't want to be destroyed by professional players.
YouTubers TheXclusiveAce, Drift0r, JGOD, and S0ur have now been collecting data in Black Ops Cold War for several weeks to find out how the SBMM system works.
SBMM Actually Not a Real SBMM
In total, the four YouTubers tested nine different accounts with different skill levels and also collected data from all the players they were in a lobby with. The data collected included K/D, win-loss ratio, accuracy, points per minute, and more. The results are quite interesting and briefly summarized here for you:
- SBMM in Black Ops Cold War is not stronger or weaker than in Modern Warfare.
- Recently played matches count a lot more than long-term skill (how well you play overall doesn't count as much in matchmaking as how well you performed in the last few matches).
- Ping ≠ King. Very good players not only wait longer for matches but often end up in games with poor ping (fewer players = longer waits = greater distances between players). Until now it was always promised that good ping was about skill in matchmaking, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore.
- Team balancing is based on the best player. Extremely good players get low-skill teammates but high-skill opponents if there are not enough players at the same skill level.
- Strictly speaking, the SBMM system in Cold War is not really skill-based matchmaking at all. It does not assign an ELO ranking that increases or decreases over time but is mainly based on performance in recent matches.
Finally, TheXclusiveAce also points out that despite the SBMM, it will always happen that good players will meet bad ones and vice versa. Although the system in Black Ops Cold War is very strict, it doesn't mean that you will be matched exclusively with players at your level in every game.
Here you can see the full video from TheXclusiveAce:
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Original article by EarlyGame's Lukas Ballat.
