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Respawn Entertainment released a lengthy blog post admitting to the flaws of the current matchmaking system. For months players have been complaining about going up against “sweaty” three-stacks when they are just trying to have fun even in casual game modes. Technical Director Samy Duc revealed how Apex Legends’ matchmaking works and how the existing system is being fully scrapped in favor of a new one.
How Apex Legends’ matchmaking currently works
Respawn revealed that the original matchmaking system designed for Apex legends uses progression, skill rating and matching as the three parameters to find players.
The Progression system ties into rewards that incentivize playing certain game modes or using certain weapons/legends. Players play certain legends based on quests and it also affects their playstyle. Ranked play also requires players to secure high placement which can affect a player’s playstyle.
Skill Rating is a numerical representation of a player’s skill. This number is intentionally hidden from players to avoid exploitation. Finally, the Matching algorithm is responsible for determining who’s in your game. Using the skill rating, it will group players together to form a match. Squads and matches are formed based on player availability.
How Apex Legends’ matchmaking will work moving forward
Duc revealed, “Moving forward, all matchmaking will use the same skill rating technology, but each mode will use different tuning values based on what works best for that mode. This will allow us to more rapidly improve Apex Legends’ matchmaking across the board.”
The new system is more granular, and has many more buckets. This allows Apex Legends’ matching algorithm to make better decisions when placing players into matches.
Some of the changes have already gone live in some regions and it will roll out to all servers shortly. Respawn hopes that the changes will make the game more enjoyable for casuals and newer players.
