The discussion surrounding Skill-Based Matchmaking in Call of Duty has been ongoing for years. Now it's gaining new momentum: Well-known CoD YouTuber Tdawgsmitty has launched a petition urging Activision to completely remove SBMM from unranked lobbies. According to IGN, over 500 signatures were collected within just one hour.
What exactly does Tdawgsmitty's petition demand?
Tdawgsmitty demands that Skill-Based Matchmaking be completely removed from the regular, unranked lobbies of Call of Duty. However, the system should remain in the ranked mode, i.e., Ranked Play. His main argument: The unranked lobbies, due to the constant adaptation of opponents, feel like ranked matches. Players who simply want to try out a new weapon, relax after work, or play with friends of varying skill levels are instead served intense, close-fought battles round after round. Additionally, he criticizes that Activision employs its own data analysts to fine-tune the matchmaking system without informing the community about its exact mechanics. The YouTuber is not new to this criticism: For months, he has been publicly addressing Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and regularly posting about it on his X account.
Why is the Destiny 2 protest generating new momentum right now?
The timing of the petition is no coincidence. Just a few days prior, Bungie, after months of pressure from the Destiny 2 community, relented and announced that long-removed content from the game, such as the Red War campaign, Curse of Osiris, Warmind, and Forsaken, would be re-enabled. The announcement came about three months after Bungie released what was supposedly the last major content update for Destiny 2 and laid off several hundred employees. For Tdawgsmitty, this is precisely the proof that organized community pressure can make a difference even with large publishers. His conclusion: If it worked for Bungie, it should work for Activision too.
How is SBMM connected to the cheating problem in Call of Duty?
This is where it gets interesting, as the debate around SBMM rarely occurs in isolation within the CoD community. Activision recently estimated the global cheating market surrounding Call of Duty to be worth $8.5 billion. Many players connect both issues: According to critics, those who constantly feel pushed against their performance limits by aggressive SBMM are more likely to seek shortcuts like cheat software to gain an advantage or escape the pressure. Whether there's a direct causal link is disputed among experts, but the connection frequently resurfaces in forums and comment sections. From our perspective, this primarily shows one thing: Activision is currently under pressure on multiple fronts simultaneously, and both issues fuel each other in public perception.
Whether Activision will actually give in is uncertain. Unlike Bungie, which has recently faced significant player decline and criticism, Call of Duty continues to have an enormous reach and is not necessarily compelled to yield to these demands. Nevertheless, the petition demonstrates how much the topic of SBMM has agitated the community for years, whether in Modern Warfare, Black Ops, or Warzone.
Source: IGN
How do you feel about SBMM in Call of Duty? Would you sign the petition, or do you find the matchmaking acceptable? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
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