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Call of Duty matches players based on a variety of factors, but the SBMM is the most controversial because it turns a casual game into something that feels overly competitive in some cases. This really only started to become a point of controversy for the series within the last six or so years, starting with Modern Warfare (2019). The franchise still factored skill into its matchmaking before this, but fans felt it wasn’t as severe. As a result, there has been a lot of demand to reduce or outright remove it for many years, but to no avail. However, the tides may be turning with Black Ops 7‘s multiplayer.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Beta Reveals New Playlist With Minimal SBMM
Treyarch has announced that the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 beta will be getting a new playlist that reduces and minimizes how skill is factored into matchmaking, bringing it closer or outright replicating classic Call of Duty matchmaking. This new playlist launches today and will be labeled as Open Moshpit, featuring traditional modes like Team Deathmatch and Domination. Of course, only time will tell if we have all gaslit ourselves into thinking SBMM really made that much of a difference or if we all just really suck at Call of Duty.
Nevertheless, it’s awesome to see Call of Duty responding to fans in such a big way. Only time will tell if this actually makes its way into the full game, but if it’s met with a positive reception, I could absolutely see that happening. Fans have also been wanting to see the removal of disbanding lobbies as well. This feature scrambles teams after every match, ensuring you play with new people every single time. In older Call of Duty games, you would stay with the same people until they left on their own volition.
The change means that if you get a really good lobby, maybe one at your skill level, they’ll be gone by the time the next match begins. Treyarch has also scrapped big crossover skins for Black Ops 7 in response to the goofier skins that exist in the last few games. The team plans to create skins that are more authentic to the Black Ops identity going forward. All in all, a lot of criticisms have been addressed rapidly since the game’s reveal, but only time will tell if it makes a big difference or if this will be a trend that continues with future non-Treyarch titles.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 will release on November 14th. What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
