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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Image via Activision
Category:
CoD

Former CoD dev implies that Activision is lying about SBMM being around since 2007

Activision only raised more questions with its SBMM blog.
Image of Ryan Lemay
Ryan Lemay
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Published: Jan 30, 2024 01:26 pm

Activision finally explained how skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) works and claimed the system has existed since Call of Duty: 4 in 2007, but a former CoD dev pushed back on that timeline.

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SBMM has been at the forefront of CoD discussions for years, but up until now, players could only theorize and speculate. However, the secret is out as Activision released a lengthy blog on Jan. 29 confirming kills, deaths, wins, losses, and more contribute to which match a player gets placed into.

Players fire weapons at each other on Rust, a desert-like map in Call of Duty.
Who’s to say how long SBMM has been in CoD. Image via Activision

The devs also claimed that Call of Duty has historically looked at player performance, but that statement raised the eyebrows of a former employee.

Former CoD dev challenges SBMM claim

“Call of Duty has historically considered player performance among other factors as part of matchmaking process,” Activision said in defense of SBMM. “Our work in this area dates back as early as Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.” CoD Content creator ModernWarzone reposted the quote above on X, and community members questioned the claim.

But it wasn’t just players who had questions. Brian Bright has worked on several CoD titles in various roles, such as Ghosts, Modern Warfare 3 (2011), Zombies, Modern Warfare (2019), and Infinite. Bright responded to ModernWarzone’s post with a bull and poop emoji, seeming to imply Activision’s claim is bullshit.

The former CoD developer didn’t go into any more detail on the response, but community members had their heads spun at the thought of Activision lying about SBMM. “I thought it was actually in CoD since then but obviously way less in-depth and strict,” CoD Content creator TheMW2Ghost asked. “But it wasn’t in at all?”

Activision promised the blog was the start of an ongoing dialogue about SBMM in CoD, so for now, players can only wait to get more information that clears up any confusion.

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Author
Image of Ryan Lemay
Ryan Lemay
Ryan graduated from Ithaca College in 2021 with a sports media degree and a journalism minor. He gained experience as a writer with the Morning Times newspaper and then Dexerto as a games writer. He mainly writes about first-person shooters, including Call of Duty and Battlefield, but he is also a big FIFA fan. You can contact him at ryanlemay@dotesports.com.