This may be the winter of discontent for some Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 players. Activision has been notably quiet about the game’s sales, and has yet to share metrics or statistics. There’s also been an uptick in anger from fans over conspiracy issues related to the game’s Skill-Based Matchmaking mode. That’s led Charlie Olson–the creator of CoD’s SBMM–to directly address some of those concerns himself.
OIson–who spent a decade at Raven Software under Activision–shared a lengthy video on his YouTube channel that dives into how his SBMM is supposed to work. He also took the time to explain why Activision’s announcement about bringing “open matchmaking” to Black Ops 7 didn’t mean the game was dropping SBMM. If fans were expecting the chance to cut down inexperienced or casual players, they’ve been disappointed. Olson argues that it means the game has been dominated by “sweats,” or experienced players, rather than rookie players.
“Some players are leaving because they thought this tweet meant SBMM had been completely removed from the game, and then they felt betrayed by the inclusion of one standard matchmaking playlist, and then blamed it for stealing ‘fodder’ from the open playlist,” explained Olson. “What’s really going on here is there aren’t enough casual players at launch to make open matchmaking the pubstomp that was expected or promise. If open lobbies are sweaty, it’s because it’s mostly sweats playing.”
He added that casual players are sticking with the modes they’re comfortable with, and suggested players try open TDM playlists “if you’re looking for noobs to stomp.”
Olson went on to say that the “sweaty” open lobbies, longer wait times, degraded connections “are just trade-offs from bringing back persistent lobbies for launch, assuming they don’t want low-pop playlists to starve.” He also predicted that the game’s players will “get sweatier” and that he believes the game will mirror the cratering numbers of XDefiant. Olson even held out the possibility that Activision may switch to a two-year model for Call of Duty, rather rushing a new game out every year.
Black Ops 7 received a small update for its Endgame content this week, which also added disconnection protection. Activision has announced the BlackCell DLC is coming during Season 1. It may need the boost, because physical sales from Black Ops 7’s international launch are down, although it remains to be seen how Game Pass might factor in. There’s a real possibility that Battlefield 6 may become one of the few shooters to out-sell Call of Duty in the last two decades. For now, it’s too soon to say if that will actually happen.
