'Call Of Duty' Is Finally Saying Something About 'Skill Based Matchmaking' Controversy

Depending on who you ask in the Call of Duty fandom, Skill-based Matchmaking (SBMM), an online matchmaking system that's ideally supposed to match players of similar skill levels into a game, is either perfectly fine or the death of video gaming as we know it.

The recent release of Modern Warfare III has reignited the controversy surrounding SBMM, as many players have expressed frustration that they're being forced into "sweaty" games (meaning lots of people in the arena are trying hard to win) rather than having more casual experiences. Defenders of SBMM argue that the game protects newer players from getting stomped by series' veterans and those complaining just want to have fun exploiting newer worse players for a laugh and potentially content.

Developers at Call of Duty have finally broken their silence on the controversial practice, offering a small insight into how they develop the game's online matchmaking algorithm and promised more information in the coming weeks. In the statement, developers say their matchmaking approach “combines latency, search time, and skill, along with many other factors.”

The statement doesn't exactly give players new information on how Call of Duty makes online matches, but the promise of a more detailed explanation may suggest there will be an answer to how Call of Duty builds online matches soon.

At the very least, the statement demonstrates that developers at Call of Duty are at least aware of the controversy surrounding its matchmaking system, which may offer some hope to players wanting it to be tweaked.