Game Director at Raven Software, Pete Actipis, has announced that Call of Duty: Warzone will soon follow in the footsteps of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and move back to the more traditional open matchmaking system, where skill is minimally considered. The major changes will come into effect with Call of Duty: Warzone‘s big Season 1 update, which is set to arrive in exactly one week, on Thursday, December 4. Players can also expect plenty of new content, gameplay changes, quality-of-life improvements, and much more with the new season.
For the past six years, Call of Duty‘s Multiplayer has used a skill-based matchmaking system (also known as SBMM). It was introduced in 2019’s reboot of the Modern Warfare series and has been present in every mainline title since, up until the most recent release, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. It operates exactly as the name implies; instead of prioritizing ping and connection, Multiplayer matches pair players based on their skill level. This was to ensure that casual players who may only play for a handful of hours each week don’t get obliterated by try-hards in every lobby. While it seems like a great system in theory, it had its flaws, which is why developer Treyarch has now moved back to an open matchmaking system for Black Ops 7, with Warzone now set to follow suit.
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Warzone Is Reducing Its SBMM in Season 1
With Season 1 of Black Ops 7 and Warzone on the horizon, developer Raven Software has released a new dev talk video discussing some of the upcoming changes and new features set to be introduced on December 4. One of the biggest takeaways from the Q&A, which was held by Game Director Pete Actipis, is that Warzone will be moving to the traditional open matchmaking system that was recently implemented in Black Ops 7. Actipis didn’t go into great detail about the change, simply saying, “Yes, open matchmaking is coming to Warzone in Season 1.” Ever since Treyarch adjusted its matchmaking system in the Black Ops 7 beta earlier this year, fans have long wondered if Warzone would follow suit. Well, we now have confirmation that the free-to-play Battle Royale title will indeed be reducing its skill-based matchmaking.
So, what exactly does this mean for players? Well, it is important to note that open matchmaking still takes skill into consideration, but only minimally. Instead, when players jump into a game of Warzone, whether it’s Resurgence, Battle Royale, or any of the game’s limited-time modes, the matchmaking system will prioritize connection and ping over skill. This should allow players to get into games much more quickly, but it does mean the skill level of a lobby will be a completely mixed bag. While SBMM ensures matches are filled with players on the same playing field, open matchmaking means skill level is entirely random.
Raven Software hasn’t provided a reason as to why it’s changing its matchmaking system, but it’s likely due to the overwhelming response the series received from the Call of Duty community when it reduced its SBMM for Black Ops 7. In the past, Activision has sworn that skill-based matchmaking was an essential part of the series in order to maintain long-term player engagement, matchmaking health, and overall fairness.
