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- Former Call of Duty pro Nadeshot says he is not happy with the state of SBMM in Call of Duty Cold War
- Nadeshot voiced the same concern last year for Warzone but the developers have made no changes to the True Skill system in the past year.
- Other notable Call of Duty community figures like Censor and Scump have sided with Nadeshot and want a ranked system added to Cold War.
Former professional Call of Duty player Matthew "Nadeshot" Haag wants Treyarch (the developer) to adjust Call of Duty: Cold War’s skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) system. It is the second time Nadeshot has criticised Call of Duty’s matchmaking system for being too strict and ruining the experience for most of the community. Players were unhappy with how Treyarch implemented matchmaking in Call of Duty Warzone and things do not seem to have changed this year.
In its current state, Call of Duty players who are less experienced or less skilled than the average player will be matched against players of similar skill. While it leads to a better experience for lesser-skilled players, the other end of the spectrum is badly affected. Talented players, professionals and top-tier streamers are constantly matched against other top players and do not get the chance to play the game casually. Nadeshot expressed his disapproval on Twitter recently and asked the developers to tone down SBMM in Cold War.
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Nadeshot’s Opinion on Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Matchmaking
Nadeshot has asked the developers to dial back on the difficulty of the game’s lobbies. He believes that matchmaking in its current state will drive away most big creators. His concerns arise from the game’s True Skill system which seemingly offers no incentive for players to improve. With SBMM active, players will keep competing against other players of similar skill and will not improve. In a ranked environment, players who improve will see significant changes to their stats and know where their skill tier lies.
Other notable figures from the community sided with Nadeshot and voiced their opinion. Retired pro Rallied revealed that all of his matches have top-tier players in them and he never faces players he does not recognize. Back in September 2020, Treyarch’s Director of Technology Martin Donlon revealed that SBMM is definitely one of the tunable parameters of Black Ops Cold War.
Censor and Scump Suggest Adding A Ranked Playlist
Chicago Huntsmen captain ‘Scump’ and Call of Duty pro ‘Censor’ suggested the addition of a ranked playlist. By adding a ranked playlist, most good players will move over to a ladder environment while allowing other players to have more casual matches in public playlists. Activision and Treyarch have not yet addressed the issues with matchmaking, but hopefully, the community and the developers find a middle ground.
Martin Donlon revealed that Black Ops 2, Modern Warfare 2, Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty 4 had SBMM as well. But players are reporting vastly different experiences across different generations of Call of Duty games. It is unknown if Treyarch will listen to the likes of Nadeshot and tone down SBMM in Cold War. Despite the negative feedback, the newly released title broke the record for maximum day one digital sales in franchise history.
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