The most hated feature in gaming has resurfaced as a result of the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War beta. During the alpha version of the game, the topic of skill-based matchmaking was the main talking point amongst fans. Once again, SBMM began trending on Twitter, just hours after the beta servers went live. However, fans were quick to realize that SBMM has likely got stronger in the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War beta.
Previously, players took the matter of SBMM into their own hands in the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War alpha. This led players to start reverse boosting in order to decrease the intensity of SBMM. Now, it appears that Treyarch has implemented a feature to stop players from taking action. As you can tell from the clip, the player is unable to blow themselves up on respawn, eliminating their chances of purposely decreasing their stats.
Treyarch have added a spawn immunity feature to the #ColdWarBeta that seems to counter reverse-boosting (and protect SBMM)
There is no escape from SBMM
Also, fans noticed a further difference in matchmaking. In the alpha version, players would stay together in the same lobby until you left. After players completed their first game on the beta however, they realized that the lobby no longer stays together. The same feature is present in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, leading players to believe that the game continually matches you with players based on how you perform in each match.
As the argument surrounding SBMM in the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War beta continues, it will be interesting to see if Treyarch implements a ranked playlist when the full game releases. Perhaps, this will lead to a more casual experience in regular public matches, and SBMM can then be justified with ranked game modes. SBMM has been described by a Treyarch developer as a “tunable parameter.” Therefore, it will be interesting to see if SBMM will change throughout the course of the beta and how strong it will be in the full game.
