One of the biggest selling points for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 over the past couple of months is that Treyarch and Activision would be reducing skill-based matchmaking. It's why I was so excited for it.
But almost immediately, CoD players began to voice concerns that things felt the same from Black Ops 6 and previous games, judging by how "sweaty" lobbies have felt, especially compared to the game's beta test when its lower SBMM "Open Matchmaking" was first tested.
Treyarch quickly posted to quell player complaints, two days after launch, confirming that "all of our Open Playlists use Open Matchmaking" and "we remain committed to that approach." But now, less than a week after launch, some gamers are not buying it.
Many high-profile gamers have been posting online about SBMM feeling as high as ever, even former pro player Havok. But a video by content creator JayBroski posted last night shows a very interesting dichotomy by using the "two box" method that shows troubling results.
The "two box" method has become a thing over the past few years, where players will use two accounts to play the game. The first account is used to intentionally play poorly and trick the game into thinking you're low skill, and then the real account joins that account's lobby to get low skill lobbies.
JayBroski does just that in his video, and compared to how he showed and says the gameplay feels on his basic account, it's like two different worlds. His normal account shows him getting matched up with higher skill players who mastered omnimovement, while the "two box" account appears to get matched with players on the lower end of the skill bracket.
Another content creator, Saio, posted a video of them connecting to the same lobby over and over again while trying to match up with new players. While this doesn't prove or refute anything, it does call the matchmaking system into question as to what's actually happening behind the scenes.
It's tough to take any of this as concrete evidence that Treyarch or Activision are "lying" about open matchmaking. I've reached out for comment on the subject, but since it's already been publicly addressed, I doubt any more will be said on the matter for now.
I feel as though a lot of the opinions from streamers and content creators are coming from players may be eschewed, as their experience likely differs from the average player who's not online during business hours with other sweatier players.
Personally, I've been having a tough time in BO7 multiplayer since launch. My lobbies feel pretty random at times (I get destroyed almost as often as I run into players who seem to be discovering their left analog stick for the first time), but it also does seem like I'm getting matched against better players than I was in the beta, too. The nerf to aim assist on controller hasn't helped anything on my end, either, so it's been a rough go.
I dreamed of the SBMM discussion and debate finally being over with BO7's open matchmaking, but it appears it's only just beginning. I never thought it would be a cure-all where every lobby would be filled with "bots," but man, I'm getting tired of the constant bickering about the system, too.
The post Call of Duty players are convinced Activision and Treyarch lying about SBMM in Black Ops 7, but there may be several factors at play appeared first on Destructoid.
