Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4’s beta will have low-SBMM playlists, as Activision continues to ‘learn a lot about multiplayer matchmaking’

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was not the series’ finest hour, but one aspect of the sequel that has gone down well with players is its experiments with matchmaking. For years, players have complained about the effects of skill-based matchmaking (SBMM), which is intended to level the playing field by sorting players into groups of similar skill. But some players claim that SBMM can outright flatten the experience, neutering much of the fun and unpredictability of arena shooting.

Until recently, Activision had tried to convince players of the merits of SBMM. But last year saw a change in attitude from the publisher. For Black Ops 7’s multiplayer, it introduced an “open moshpit” playlist alongside its standard match allocator, wherein skill consideration was “drastically reduced in matchmaking”.

It appears this option has gone down well with CoD players, as Activision has said it plans to carry low-SBMM playlists forward into Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. This was revealed in a post on Call of Duty’s official X account, where it explained its broader plans for multiplayer matchmaking going forward.

“Over the past year, we’ve continued to learn a lot about multiplayer matchmaking through player data and community feedback,” the developers wrote, adding that these learnings had been “reinforced” by players’ reception of the releases of Black Ops and Black Ops 2 alongside Black Ops 7. Clearly, it has concluded that open playlists are worth keeping around, as it says. “We’ll continue to offer Open playlists in Black Ops 7, and we’ll also include Open Playlist options in the upcoming Modern Warfare 4 beta.”

On top of this, Activision is introducing a “new matchmaking system” for various modes in Black Ops 7, including Black Ops classic, quick play and party games. It says that this system is “inspired by” Black Ops and Black Ops 2, and in a follow-up post, explains it builds upon “what we’ve learned, with smarter team balancing, wide match variety, improvements that keep matches full, and a better experience for mixed-level parties.”

It’ll be interesting to see how the matchmaking changes align with Modern Warfare 4’s adjustments to gunplay and general combat, with a renewed emphasis on making players “feel like they’re really behind the gun”. The beta kicks off on August 21, though unlike last year Game Pass subscribers will not be entitled to early beta access.