Disabling Call of Duty's skill-based matchmaking makes players leave more often, Activision study reveals
Activision has released a new study after secretly altering Call of Duty's controversial skill-based matchmaking system, revealing that players were not pleased with the changes, despite public criticism of the system.
The details:
In a 25-page report released last week, the publisher revealed that it conducted a secret experiment inside Modern Warfare 3 earlier this year, reducing the effects of SBMM for players in order to study the impact it had on the experience. The changes to SBMM were gradual and monitored, with the final verdict being that, despite many complaints about the system, many seemed to dislike its removal, resulting in "more quitting, less playing, and more negative blowouts".
According to the paper, half of the game's North American player base took part in the "Deprioritise Skill Test." During the test, the top 10% of players in terms of skill seemed to return to the game more frequently than before, while the remaining 90% played fewer games. Although this appears to be a good thing for those who are better at the game, Activision warns that the removal of SBMM may result in players quitting completely, causing the playerbase to shrink and the top 10% to become top 20%, if not top 30%.
Activision also stated that it carried out another test where it tightened SBMM limits, which resulted in the opposite outcome, with high-skill players leaving more frequently and lower-skill players staying longer.
SBMM has become an ongoing debate in the COD community in recent years, with streamers and high-skill players claiming that it makes playing public matches "unplayable" due to its focus on creating balanced matches that end up being overtuned. It is believed that this causes players to have less consistent games, with one good match leading to a handful of more difficult games in order to keep people interested.
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