Modern Warfare 4 devs won’t address SBMM despite backlash

Modern Warfare 4 uses Black Ops 7’s controversial Classic Matchmaking, and following a ton of feedback from the beta, Infinity Ward’s Co-Studio Head has doubled down on the system.

Skill-based matchmaking has been a major talking point in Call of Duty ever since 2019’s Modern Warfare, with players believing it harms connection, takes away match variety, and punishes strong performances.

Black Ops 7 brought Open Matchmaking, where skill is minimally considered, but then the Season 5 update brought Classic Matchmaking. This went down poorly with the community, with players feeling it was a lot more like the controversial skill-based matchmaking system.

Despite BO7 players believing it “destroyed multiplayer,” the same system arrived in Modern Warfare 4 and was met with a ton of backlash. Infinity Ward have confirmed they have no plans to discuss matchmaking further.

MW4 dev doubles down on SBMM

Respond to an X post asking, “When can we discuss SBMM in Modern Warfare 4?” Infinity Ward’s Co-Studio Head Mark Grigsby said: “All Matchmaking info we have at this time is what has been officially stated on the @CallofDuty account.”

This refers to the Call of Duty X account explaining the reasoning behind using stricter skill-based matchmaking in Modern Warfare 4, which was met with severe backlash and Community Notes.

In another thread, a player said, “the matchmaking made me cancel the pre-order.” In response, Grigbsy said, “Sorry to hear that, but I respect your decision. Maybe next time.”

So, while we may hear something further down the line, it doesn’t sound like there are any plans to speak on Modern Warfare 4 matchmaking further following the feedback from the beta.

While we won’t hear more about matchmaking, we should learn more about the new DMZ mode and the rest of the multiplayer content ahead of the game’s October 23 release.