A Black Ops 7 dev has responded to claims that they “cranked” skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) over the festive period to protect Christmas noobs.
“Christmas noobs” are players who have only just gotten the game as a Christmas present, so naturally, they aren’t as skilled as those who have had the game since launch.
Stomping Christmas noobs was a long-running meme in the CoD community, but it ended with the introduction of strict SBMM in Modern Warfare 2019, where the game’s matchmaking system made it very rare for brand-new players to be matched with those who had already played the game.
However, Black Ops 7 has Open playlists, where skill is minimally considered, so you could once again be matched against new players. BO7 even had a message welcoming the Christmas noobs, encouraging them to head to the Firing Range to practice.
Black Ops 7 dev shuts down increased SBMM claim
After a player accused the devs of increasing skill-based matchmaking to protect new players, a dev shut down the claim.
“They have cranked the ever living f**k out of sbmm for the Christmas noobs lmaooo,” said xFleXy_ on X on December 26. “I’ve been finding nothing but master prestige players in every lobby.”
“No they haven’t,” replied Matt Scronce, Treyarch’s Design Director.
It’s not the first time Black Ops 7’s reduced skill-based matchmaking mode has been criticised, with streamers convinced it was as strong as ever at launch. Activision have confirmed that skill is minimally considered in Quick Play and All Open Playlists, with ‘Standard’ having the more recent strict SBMM.
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