{"id":914640,"date":"2025-12-26T18:45:25","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T18:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/activisions-researchers-reckon-skill-based-matchmaking-is-better-for-everyone"},"modified":"2025-12-26T18:45:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T18:45:25","slug":"activisions-researchers-reckon-skill-based-matchmaking-is-better-for-everyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/activisions-researchers-reckon-skill-based-matchmaking-is-better-for-everyone\/","title":{"rendered":"Activision&#8217;s researchers reckon skill-based matchmaking is better for everyone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/activisions-researchers-reckon-skill-based-matchmaking-is-better-for-everyone.jpg\" \/> <\/p>\n<p>Activision has published a 25-page white paper exploring the impact of skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) on its multiplayer lobbies, determining that SBMM is better for all players.<\/p>\n<p>As spotted by indie game developer and consultant <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/tha_rami\/status\/1817178179208925317\">Rami Ismail<\/a>, the report &ndash; which can be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.activision.com\/cdn\/research\/CallofDuty_Matchmaking_Series_2.pdf\">read in full on Activision&#8217;s official website<\/a> &ndash; outlines an &#8220;amazing A\/B test&#8221; where Activision &#8220;secretly progressively turned off SBMM and monitored retention&hellip; and turns out everyone hated it, with more quitting, less playing, and more negative blowouts&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Activision announced plans to launch the series of white papers back in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.callofduty.com\/blog\/2024\/01\/call-of-duty-update-an-Inside-look-at-matchmaking\">April<\/a>, and has already considered the impact <a href=\"https:\/\/www.callofduty.com\/blog\/2024\/01\/call-of-duty-update-an-Inside-look-at-matchmaking\">connections and Time to Match<\/a> has on online play.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/activisions-researchers-reckon-skill-based-matchmaking-is-better-for-everyone\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/activisions-researchers-reckon-skill-based-matchmaking-is-better-for-everyone\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Activision has published a 25-page white paper exploring the impact of skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) on its multiplayer lobbies, determining that SBMM is better for all players. As spotted by indie game developer and consultant Rami Ismail, the report &ndash; which can be read in full on Activision&#8217;s official website &ndash; outlines an &#8220;amazing A\/B test&#8221; where Activision &#8220;secretly progressively turned off SBMM and monitored retention&hellip; and turns out everyone hated it, with more quitting, less playing, and more negative blowouts&#8221;. Activision announced plans to launch the series of white papers back in April, and has already considered the impact connections and Time to Match has on online play. Read more Source<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":914641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[473,8945,8825,773,91,1721,13327,134,8711,8673,59,44,45,3712,3400,86,54,60,4616],"class_list":["post-914640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eurogamer","tag-activision","tag-call-of-duty-modern-warfare-3-2023","tag-esports-relevant","tag-first-person","tag-fps","tag-matchmaking","tag-matchmaking-system","tag-microsoft","tag-multiplayer-competitive","tag-multiplayer-cooperative","tag-pc","tag-ps4","tag-ps5","tag-research","tag-science","tag-shooter","tag-single-player","tag-xbox-one","tag-xbox-series-x-s"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Activision&#039;s researchers reckon skill-based matchmaking 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