The success Call of Duty: Warzone has seen in its first few days is almost unprecedented. Other battle royales, like Fortnite and Apex Legends, didn’t come close to matching Warzone‘s player count when they first launched. One of the primary reasons for this surge in popularity is Activision’s decision to go free-to-play, which clearly seems to have paid off. Another reason that the game has drawn so much interest is that it is said to not feature skill-based matchmaking (SBMM). If true, this would make Warzone unlike most other multiplayer titles on the market today. But even with confirmation from Infinity Ward, many pro players doubt whether that is truly the case.
Skill-based matchmaking in Warzone?
Earlier in the week, we reported on an Infinity Ward developer confirming SBMM doesn’t exist in the battle royale. Pat Kelly, the developer in question, confirmed this to a content creator who attended the early play session of Warzone. This was music to much of the community’s ears, as other titles like Fortnite do implement SBMM in public matches. With Warzone featuring such a high player count, the idea that the public queues favored better connections over skill-based matchmaking was a welcome one.
However, five days in, the higher-tier Call of Duty players seem to doubt that this is actually the case. Jordan “Jkap” Kaplan of OpTic Gaming shared his thoughts on Twitter.
War Zone has skill-based matchmaking and I won't be told otherwise… and it's super fkn annoying
— Jordan Kaplan (@JKap415) March 13, 2020
Jkap clearly feels that Activision’s latest title does feature SBMM based on the players that he’s been running into. As skill-based matchmaking, in theory, only matches you up with players of similar skill, a player like Jkap, who is one of the best in the world, would have an easy time noticing this in their lobbies.
The Call of Duty pro received over one hundred responses backing up his thoughts. Caster Clint “Maven” Evans and head of YouTube Gaming Ryan “Fwiz” Wyatt chimed in as well.
There’s no definitive way to tell if skill-based matchmaking does or doesn’t exist in Warzone. At least, not until we get a more clear statement from Activision. For now, some of the game’s most prominent voices will tell you that it’s there.
Do you think Warzone has SBMM? How do you feel about SBMM in general? Let us know in the comments below. For all other coverage and all the latest Call of Duty news, stay tuned with Daily Esports.
