Ex–Call of Duty Developer on Removing SBMM — and Why Gamers Might Hate It

A former Call of Duty developer has opened up about the match‑making system SBMM (skill‑based match‑making), hinting that it could be turned off—but he thinks players would quickly revolt.

🔧 What the ex‑dev said

• The system could be disabled—but only temporarily.

• He believes players would miss it almost immediately and start complaining.

• His takeaway: no one really wants unfiltered matchmaking, even if it seems appealing in theory.

Why SBMM sticks around

• It's widely used to balance matches by pairing similarly skilled players.

• Inside coined A/B tests, Activision found removing SBMM led to more one‑sided games, shrinking player retention.

Community reactions

• Some players feel highly competitive lobbies (especially skilled veterans) get overly intense and stressful due to SBMM. They crave more match variety and occasional “easier” games to keep things fun.

• Others point out that without SBMM, casual or new players would be relentlessly beaten, which would likely push them away.

Balance vs. fun

• SBMM is a tightrope—needed for fairness, but can be exhausting for top-tier players who end up in sweaty, high-stakes matches every time.

• At the same time, consistently hard matches can exhaust even the best players, while inconsistent or mismatched lobbies risk alienating newer gamers.

Bottom line: Although it’s technically possible to remove SBMM, doing so would likely cause outrage among a large segment of the community. It’s a divisive feature: competitive players find it exhausting, yet new and mid-level players enjoy the fairness it brings.