Good matchmaking? Thumbs up! What’s good, though, depends on who you want the game to appeal to.
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When Dimi threw the topic of matchmaking on the podcast planning table, Micha frowned at first. matchmaking? It’s all about meeting reasonably equal opponents in multiplayer games – what are we going to spend a whole podcast talking about?
But after our conversation, one thing is clear: we could easily have talked much longer about matchmaking! Because the topic is so complex and at the same time important for the success of a multiplayer game. And of course, whether it’s fun at all.
Together with Phil, who is currently playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare again, Micha and Dimi dive into matchmaking, especially skill-based matchmaking (SBMM for short), which matches players based on their skills. Or at least based on what the developers think is skill.
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But since Modern Warfare (2019), Call of Duty has had to take a lot of scolding – not only from influencers, but also from Dimi, for whom the CoD algorithm “smoothes out” games too much. Instead of the rollercoaster ride of previous Call of Dutys including killstreak spectacles, all matches are now too similar. There are no more highlights.
Phil doesn’t want to fully agree with this, but is currently noticing in Modern Warf are that matchmaking is reaching its limits the emptier the server becomes. At the same time, Dimi and he notice a certain matchmaking “ceiling” in Rainbow Six: Siege, which one almost inevitably encounters.
And Micha not only tells Overwatch anecdotes, but also takes a look behind the scenes based on developer presentations: What is important in skill-based matchmaking? How does this even work?
And why are there misunderstandings when games classify their community on the one hand based on skill, but on the other hand build in progression systems and level levels that have nothing to do with skill at all?
Ultimately, our conversation boils down to one thing: the crux of matchmaking is not what it does, but who it does it for.
Or would the solution be the good old server browser?
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